


i'll be seeing you

by sujiverse



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F, blade runner-ish, past yvesoul - Freeform, pseudo science fiction, set in the 2530s..., the mcd isn't graphic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2019-11-12 20:31:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18017936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sujiverse/pseuds/sujiverse
Summary: All Agent Ha Sooyoung wants to do is to capture Son Hyejoo; the baby-faced villain who's taken more from Sooyoung than anyone could have known. Between her and long-awaited exacted retribution stands a few things: an ex-wife, a lost love, and a fresh-faced cyborg she now has to call her partner.Her bartender also owns a giant pirate ship, but that's not important information just yet.





	1. sooyoung, and the intricacies of having a partner detective

**Author's Note:**

> the world-building here was gratefully inspired by darrell pitt's 2016 novel 'a toaster on mars'. read it for a good laugh and a healthy dose of wacky science fiction!

_i'll find you in the morning sun / and when the night is new / i'll be looking at the moon / but I'll be seeing you_

 

* * *

 

 

_"I'm not a home-wrecker," she says simply._

 

_Sooyoung's eyes shoot open almost painfully fast. The girl just an inch in front of her is breathtakingly beautiful. She relishes the sight. Their foreheads are lightly touching, and it takes all of her willpower not to just lean in right now. She knows the other girl is feeling the same, if the strangled sigh that leaves her lips is any indication. Jungeun’s eyes are shut now, squeezing so tightly Sooyoung thinks she might be in pain._

 

_It's her first time seeing her so close._

 

_"No, you're not," Sooyoung sighs._

 

_She knows it will also be her last._

 

* * *

 

Sooyoung wakes up to a harsh slap on her face.

 

"Jesus! Fucking-" She exclaims in pain, rolling over and burying her head into her pillow. She realises in her stupor that it was probably a mistake to replace the old alarm she had with the Slap O'Clock 2000, but to be fair the Venusian salesman had three beady eyes that just oozed sincerity, and he couldn't have been more convincing that a hyper-realistic robotic hand was "the freshest way to get out of bed".

 

The hand even featured totally unnecessary artificial intelligence. Exhibit A:

 

"Searching database for: Jesus fucking. Found twenty-three hundred thousand results for ‘Jesus fucking’."

 

"No, no, no, cancel! Cancel!"

 

"I'm cancelling your search request, geez. Have some empathy for the hand that has to slap you awake every morning." Sooyoung rolls her eyes, and makes a mental note to dismantle the smartass of an alarm when she gets home from work. "You're going to be late for work if you don't get out of bed in five... four... three..."

 

It was as if technology existed just to annoy the fuck out of her. She yanks out the contraption from its place in the wall right when it winds back to give another slap, and flings it across the room, appreciating the sound of plastic breaking against her grey walls. The voice fizzles out into static and sizzles out a last, triumphant spark before descending into a gratifying silence. That thing didn't deserve her kindness, not one bit.

 

Sooyoung takes a shower, and dresses comfortably for work just as a message arrives. She opens her refrigerator and plays it.

 

"Jinsoul relays that the meeting at 9am has been rescheduled for an emergency meeting at 8am in headquarters."

 

Sooyoung reaches for the bottle of pills labelled "tteokbokki", and pops one into her mouth. She places the lid back, and momentarily considers taking another. "Well, tell Jinsoul that she's an asshole."

 

"It’s called an emergency meeting for a reason, twat. Also, watch your diet!"

 

"I didn't install you for you to question my life choices all the time, Luna." She defiantly pops a second, and then a third pill, just because. "Also, I'm gonna get my abs, just you wait."

 

She smacks her tummy for effect, as Luna's shrill laugh rings through the speakers she recently installed. The sound quality isn't the best, but the sleek "beats by dr. dre" logo got her hooked from the moment she spotted it in an antique shop, and she just couldn't resist buying it. Also, it makes Luna sound less annoying than when she's on the inbuilt intercom system. If her AI ever evolved to more than just a voice, she's disowning the entire thing.

 

(A/N: Speaking about that antique shop, she had bought a couple of books as well. Real ones, mind you! Made with paper and all that jazz. She even picked up a tennis racket, even though no one in her century ever learned how to play it again, and the nearest tennis court from her would be in the ghost town that is Old New York. Then again, even if she knew how to play, she wouldn't have anyone to play with. However her attention had been focused on a gem for the weekend, a phone that goes by the name "Nokia" that has been running on 32% battery life for the past five centuries. The storekeeper had boasted about preserving it well after all these years, but she figures it has more to do with the phone being invincible, than him being skillful.)

 

"How, by shading them with makeup like in the twenty-first century? What are you, four hundred years old?" Luna wheezes, and Sooyoung imagines giving a hard slap to whoever implanted emotions-- and jokes-- into artificial intelligence. She switches Luna off, grabs her coat and leaves.

 

The weather is gloomy, as it has been for the past century or so since the Sun had burned out. The buildings in her estate reach out high into the upper stratosphere, decorated by neon signs and advertisements reminiscent of the yesteryears. A blimp flies by with an advertisement for a new liquor, and she notices amusedly that the model on the electronic sign flying behind it is none other than Haseul. With grey fucking hair. She makes a mental note to ask her about it later.

 

Her car, an exact replica of a 2011 Audi TT, is parked right outside the door to her apartment on the 229th floor. She laments to herself about getting an apartment so close to the ground, but her pay as a PBI agent doesn't exactly give her much to work with. She never asked to live in Old Seoul City.

 

She gets stuck in the morning traffic, and has her car (whose name is JJ, weird) complain to her again about her errant driving and exceeds the speed limit over and over again, revving the engine loudly and hearing JJ shriek out "NO!!!" each time. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary.

 

She reaches headquarters much earlier than usual, considering how she can always sneak in a drink at Haseul's before arriving at work. PBI HQ stuns like no other building does, the compound stretching across the size of twenty football fields and boasting a hundred floors of state-of-the-art technology, holograms, weapons of mass destruction and even more technology than a cyborg could deal with in a lifetime.

 

"Welcome to the Planetary Bureau of Investigation. Please present your identification." She flashes her badge and ID card at the camera, and the glass doors to the West Wing swing open.

 

Her office is a mess, much like her apartment. She doesn't like to fill it up with flat screens as everyone else, preferring to view her reports physically and not as holograms. She's old fashioned alright, and not exactly proud or ashamed of it. Jinsoul had once commented that her preferences and tastes would have been considered old in the 2000s, let alone right now in the 2530s, to which she was rendered speechless.

 

"Boardroom, now."

 

Speaking of Jinsoul, there she was in her doorway, way too smartly dressed for Sooyoung.

 

"Hello to you too Agent Big Shot."

 

Jinsoul frowns at the nickname, and furrows her eyebrows. The peaked cap on head droops slightly over her forehead, silly and obviously oversized. Sooyoung sighs softly and moves out of her seat.

 

"You should wear something more fitting and quit taking the leftovers," she scolds in a low voice, reaching above Jinsoul's head to pull her cap into place. "I don't understand why you couldn't have tailor-made yours."

 

Their eyes meet, and it’s a tender moment between them. Such an occurrence is rare. They never did have a good relationship, no matter how hard Jinsoul tried.

 

"Thanks," Jinsoul mutters, and the two wordlessly march toward the board room. Sooyoung tries to unclench her fists from her sides, but the silence is so awkward and suffocating that she can't even bear to look at her superior.

 

Ex-wives can be hard to navigate, even after years.

 

They reach the board room, finally, thank the heavens, and Sooyoung takes a seat beside an enthusiastic Chaewon.

 

"Did you hear?" She asks in an excited whisper. The boardroom is awfully quiet, the agents looking too somber even for a emergency Monday meeting. "It's The Big Bad, they kidnapped someone this time! The heir to Jeon Retail Empire, Jeon Heejin herself..."

 

"I heard she once punched an intergalactic reporter in the face because he stalked her to her house... On the 1982nd storey... In New Incheon." Vivi, Chaewon's partner who is now taking a seat beside her, adds with a grin. "He had two hundred stitches and ten broken bones in total because he fell off her balcony from the blow and landed sixty floors below. Nothing the doctors couldn't fix."

 

That's truly impressive, and Sooyoung can't help but cock an eyebrow. If the rumours are true, Jeon Heejin is worth so much money that the sum is literally uncountable by even the best computers the galaxy has to offer. Sooyoung can't help but envy her. I mean, living on the 1982nd storey, imagine the daily traffic! Or lack thereof!

 

The mention of The Big Bad, however, leaves a sour taste in her mouth. Headed by her arch nemesis, Son Hyejoo herself, the syndicate has been committing atrocities across the Milky Way over the last decade. Three years back they pulled off the biggest heist in the history of mankind by robbing the Bank of Mars, down to every last penny. Sooyoung shakes her head at the particular memory of a Martian man holding his two baby daughters, typical blue head and beady eyes and all, begging her to get their money back.

 

She never did.

 

(Her mind unwittingly flashes to when she was out on another mission to trace down the criminal, only to have her plan backfire. Hyejoo had been on her tail the whole damn time. Her ship had crash landed on an unidentified planet. She lost so much in that shipwreck. Her beloved ship, her extensive collection of soft toys, her sanity...

 

And her partner. )

 

She barely has time to erase the image of Jungeun taking her last breaths from her mind as Jinsoul-- or more appropriately, Deputy Director Jung-- clears her throat and effectively silences the growing chatter.

 

"As most of you have already heard, The Big Bad have been busy again. This time the victim is the only heiress to the Jeon family fortune, Jeon Heejin," Jinsoul announces. As her briefing drones on, Sooyoung finds herself getting bored with the formalities, wanting nothing more but to be able to get back in the comfort of her own office and study the many files she's compiled over the years on the syndicate.

 

"After a decade of terrorising the Milky Way, we still have little to no information on them. Whatever scraps of knowledge on Son Hyejoo is courtesy of Agent Ha Sooyoung's pristine collection of reports and extensive research materials on her."

 

Wait.

 

"All her materials have been shared into the main database."

 

_Wait._

 

"Our priority is to apprehend The Big Bad, and get Miss Jeon back home safely," Jinsoul dismisses the agents to go on their ways, and Sooyoung is left alone with her, shell-shocked and frankly, betrayed.

 

"You could have at least told me on our way here that you were going to do that," Sooyoung accuses, agitated.

 

A thoughtful pause.

 

"The files on the crash, did you give them that too?"

 

"I gave clearance to every file you had on her other than that one. And I didn't think it would matter whether I told you or not, since the Director has decided that you're," Jinsoul swallows. "You're off the case for good."

 

She expects some form of retaliation or attack to come, but it never does. Instead, she gets this:

 

"I can't be off the case," Sooyoung chuckles, unhinged. "I've spent half of my career on it."

 

"Yes, you are, for good. And yes, you have, but Director Park feels that you have way too much personal attachment to the case. You're our best agent, we all know that, and that's why we need you on other equally important stuff. Your vendetta-"

 

"Well, Director Park can stuff his badge up his ass-"

 

"-against Son Hyejoo, is dangerous not only to the PBI, but also to yourself! Do you not see that?"

 

"I'm your best agent, your best shot at finding them!"

 

"You're also the only agent who refuses to work with a partner. We can't leave you out on the field alone against a crazy accomplished criminal. Do you understand that?" Jinsoul replies. Her tone softens, and her eyes follow. "I can't let you out there."

 

"Really? Don’t pull that shit on me. And I'm not alone, I have JJ," Sooyoung spits back bitterly without processing how stupid her words actually sound. Her mind is still addled with painful memories at the sudden turn of events.

 

Jinsoul shakes her head, ending the discussion (for now). "There's someone you need to meet."

 

She follows her down a series of hallways, no doubt leading to the fanciful office fit for the Deputy Director. Sooyoung got her own office due to her seniority, and it had been a luxury, until she'd seen what Jinsoul got after her promotion. It's twice as big as hers, and features a coffee machine to die for.

 

They turn the last corner, and Jinsoul gives her a fair warning to "be nice", and Sooyoung just grunts because her ex-wife just told the entire department to access her files and work on her case and take all the credit which should have been hers and forget about the most important thing which is to avenge-

 

"Oh, Deputy Director Jung! And you must be..." She hears the sweet and mellow voice before she sees the face of it.

 

"Uh..." She sees the face of a beautiful young woman who now stretches out a hand for her to shake, a new recruit no doubt. Oh, youth! How dreadful.

 

"Senior Agent Ha Sooyoung?" Sooyoung nods her head, eyes trailing to the girl's single metal foot. Jiwoo retracts her hand back embarrassedly.

 

"Good to see you, Agent," Jinsoul moves to pat her on the back, glaring at Sooyoung to remind her of her earlier words. "Sooyoung, this is your new partner, Agent Kim Jiwoo. She's a..."

 

"Cyborg."

 

"You're a robot?"

 

"Well yes, but I'm also 63% human. That makes me a cyborg-"

 

"Jinsoul, I'm not working with a damn robot!"

 

"I'm a cyborg, I have human DNA, human skin, human heart, human flesh and one human foot." The recruit smiles widely, undeterred by the unfavourable response.

 

"Sounds like a pretty damn advanced robot to me," Sooyoung laughs, but is met with the same uncomfortable silence she remembers from the hallway earlier this morning.

 

Jinsoul snaps. "Sooyoung, could you please just for once, get off your high horse and, and be nice! Just, please for one day, have some respect for others. And yourself."

 

The tension in the room is thick enough to be sliced through. A staredown occurs, and Jiwoo, in all her part-metal, part-human glory, takes a step back between the feuding duo, and just, breathes. Like a normal human, through her metal lungs.

 

"Agent Kim has as much knowledge and expertise as you. She's not a rookie, but an experienced agent on the field. I chose her because i thought you might want someone who could match up to your level of skill and intellect. No human detective can do that, so I found you a partner that happens to be a cyborg," Jinsoul explains coldly. Her eyes dart around the ceiling, looking everywhere but at the two people in her office.

 

Sooyoung does what she does best, and leaves without a word. Jinsoul raises her hands in exasperation, and Jiwoo assures her that she'll get through to her, cyborg-style.

 

Sooyoung totally doesn't notice the peculiar sound of metal clanking against the marble floors of the hallway.

 

Her office is nothing like Jinsoul's, if the nostalgic collection of pre-technological artefacts are any indicator. Jiwoo even spots a physical music album, one that she finds out belongs to an all-female music group formed way back in 2018. Those must cost quite a bit, but then again, no one really is interested in this stuff anymore.

 

So, Ha Sooyoung is not only an asshole, but also an outlier. Great.

 

"Senior Agent Ha," She greets.

 

"Oh, Robotface," came the reply. The detective doesn't even bother looking up from the files she were looking through. The nickname causes her to stumble in her thoughts momentarily, but she's been called worse. Her robotic eye sees a photo of a girl in her file, and in a fraction of a millisecond, manages to source out that it is in fact the big bad Son Hyejoo herself. A rather cute-looking criminal, if she were to be honest.

 

"I just wanted to ask, where do I sit? I understand that this is my office now," Jiwoo chooses her words carefully. One thing she didn't come programmed with? Tact. Had to learn it the hard way, dreadfully.

 

Sooyoung sighs, looking up from her papers with a disgruntled yet still somewhat nonchalant expression. (The woman is hard to read okay? No database in the universe can prepare a cyborg for someone like this!)

 

"Look, I prefer working alone okay? Don't need a partner, don't think I ever will. So please, get out of my office."

 

Jiwoo still can't read the expression on her face. Even after twenty years after her creation, she still can't seem to grasp the one thing that makes her innately human. She skims through a section in her mind that keeps track of human expressions and finally puts a word to it.

 

Sadness. Ha Sooyoung is sad. And very much so...

 

After more scanning of databases, and a hack into Sooyoung's personal files, she gets a name.

 

She tries. "I understand that your ex-partner, Agent-"

 

"Do not say her name!" The detective shoots up, resembling a deer in headlights. Her initial shock is soon overcome by anger, as far as Jiwoo can tell. "Don't you dare speak her name. You don't deserve that, or even to be my partner, so please save yourself the embarrassment and go."

 

"I want you to know that I am just performing my duties as a fellow PBI agent, and following orders, Agent Ha. Don't you need to, too? Or have you consumed yourself in so much grief and sorrow that you've forgotten how to do your job?" It's a criticism that Jiwoo can't hold back, and she instantly regrets it. Hanging her head down, she prepares to apologise.

 

"You're... you're right," she exhales. "I haven't done my job well enough. Maybe... That's why you're still in my fucking office! Get out, now! And stay out of my personal files." Sooyoung hisses out the last part, pressing a finger right onto where Jiwoo's very human heart beats.

 

She doesn't need to be told twice.

 

* * *

 

_The first face she sees when she wakes up is that of her wife's. Looking back at her, disappointed, devastated and concerned, all at once. The taste of blood is fresh on her tongue, and she figures it mustn't have taken long for Jinsoul to find them._

 

_"Where-"_

 

_"Jungeun?" Jinsoul laughs bitterly, but chokes on her next words. "Gone, Sooyoung... She's gone."_

 

_She passes out to the tune of Jungeun's ragged last breaths, and her laborious last words, echoing in her ear. All before the tears can even fall._

 

* * *

 

A fews hours, a counselling session (for Sooyoung), a cup of warm coffee (for Jiwoo's nerves), and a few reluctant apologies later, Jiwoo gets a table in Sooyoung's office and they officially become partners. Or as Sooyoung says, they become Sooyoung and Robotface.

 

"My face is 100 percent human, I don't know why you keep calling me that," Jiwoo huffs under her breath.

 

"Shut up," Sooyoung says as she gets up from her seat in a hurry. Jiwoo looks on, confused as Sooyoung prepares to exit her office.

 

"Well, aren't you coming along with me?"

 

Jiwoo scurries after her. "Where are we going? It's half-past 4, and you never leave for home until it's 8 because you're a workaholic." They turn into the lobby and press for a lift.

 

"What did I say about staying out of my personal files?" Ding.

 

"I found that out from the Deputy Director!" They enter the lift, and ascend to the carpark in silence. Jiwoo's curiosity gets the better of her again. "Where are we going?"

 

"To trace a lead and catch Son Hyejoo," the agent quips, searching her jean pocket for her car keys.

 

"You're off the case!"

 

"I never let that stop me."

 

"But-"

 

"Detective Robotface, you're welcome to not join me at all," Sooyoung punctuates, pressing her key into the car door and twisting the lock open. The cyborg, born literally without a backbone, opens the door and wordlessly settles into the car.

 

"Hi, I'm JJ! Sooyoung drives really badly, so please put on your seatbelt," the car spoke.

 

"I drive well-"

 

"Hi, I'm a distant relative of yours, my name is Jiwoo and some of my parts were made from a scrapyard off the coast of Junkyard #3911. Pleased to meet you!" Jiwoo offers her conditioned response to any AI, and is met with a short silence.

 

"Sooyoung, your friend is weird."

 

"She's not my friend, JJ. Also, I drive fine!" Sooyoung imagines whatever sentient being JJ would become actually raising an eyebrow. "When there's no traffic..."

 

"You drive?" Jiwoo asks. Nobody ever drives anymore. Well, they do drive cars, but not with a steering wheel like Sooyoung does. People usually just press a button, or two.

 

* * *

 

_"You drive?" Sooyoung asks, pleasantly surprised at the new information. It’s not their first day on the job together, but they’re still trying to get used to each other as partners._

 

_"Yeah, nobody ever drives anymore but, I kinda like it."_

 

_"I get what you mean," she replies excitedly. "It's freeing, controlling the technology that usually controls us."_

 

_"Freedom?" Her driver for the day laughs, and it rings loudly in the enclosed space. It's not at all annoying, as others have found her to be. “I can get with that. Driving, collecting stupid old junk, eating real food instead of pills. It's... refreshing.”_

 

_Sooyoung nods in agreement, as the car veers sharply to the right. The built-in AI (Yerim, she’s called) screeches, firing away cheap insults about Jungeun’s poor driving skills. The detectives have a good laugh over it, as Jungeun continues to taunt the AI with her random swerving._

 

_Sooyoung remembers that day as the most fun she’s had since becoming a PBI detective. They even caught the intergalactic mafia leader they were looking for, with more ease than Sooyoung could have expected._

 

_Jungeun is a great partner. She’s intelligent. She’s witty. Refreshing._

 

_Almost, freeing._

 

* * *

 

Jiwoo doesn't let the lack of a response deter her from asking any more questions.

 

"Why a 2011 Audi TT?" Jiwoo wipes off the layer of dust coating the dashboard, feeling her human nose get sensitive and promptly sneezes. Sooyoung doesn't even so much as look over as she carefully navigates out of the PBI headquarters and towards her destination.

 

Jiwoo, after blowing her nose, figures out that they're going northward. Which means that Sooyoung could be going to the junkyards where scrap metal is discarded or...

 

The old residential area where the criminal mastermind spent her childhood.

 

Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi, Old Old Old Seoul.

 

Jiwoo trains her sight on the post-apocalyptic ghost city that is Old Old Old Seoul. Covered under years of accumulated smog and smoke, the lower stratosphere features nothing but little sunlight, and a warning to turn back.

 

By the look on Sooyoung's face, they aren't turning back any time soon.

 

"Robotface, can you be a dear and scan for threats in the area?"

 

"Agent Kim would do just fine. And I already did that. No heat signatures whatsoever," the cyborg replies coolly, and Sooyoung finds herself slightly heartened that Jinsoul managed to get her someone who cared at least a fraction about external threats as she did.

 

She's just had a bad experience, okay? Let her breathe. The smog is already thick enough.

 

They navigate the hazy, dirty atmosphere for a few more minutes, jetting over old and abandoned skyscrapers, casting their faint shadow on what looks to be around a hundred floors above sea level, much lower than where Sooyoung's apartment lies. She sends a prayer of thanks to the trillion or so gods that have been created since the start of time, and expresses her gratitude for owning an apartment on the 229th floor. It's better than being stuck here.

 

They don't get to appreciate the view much longer, as Sooyoung pulls up into the carpark of a shady-looking building. Okay, they all look shady, but this one particularly so. It's covered in thick moss, like the others, but from the state of it, it is clear that someone's been here recently to trim it proper. Which is weird, because who would take all that time to go to Old Old Old Seoul to trim moss on a building deserted a hundred years ago?

 

"I'm picking up heat signatures, from the past month or so," Jiwoo exclaims, climbing out of the car and feeling the concrete floor with her metal foot. It's sturdy enough not to break under the weight of a car, and Jiwoo releases a breath she didn't realise she was holding. Holy shit.

 

She's terrified.

 

Not that she hasn't been on scary missions before, no, she has. And she's had her fair share of serial killers, some of whom she can't help but draw similarities to Sooyoung. She's just never had a partner before as well.

 

Wait, where's Sooyoung?

 

The detective is out of sight by the time Jiwoo snaps out of her reverie and has to resort to heat signatures to find her way back to her.

 

Sooyoung is holding up a chunky piece of metal that seems to be a iPad 239, something that become outdated five years ago. It's software is still premium no doubt, but as a life-saving, crime-solving, ass-kicking detective, Sooyoung could do so much more with so much more.

 

Anyway, the point is, Jiwoo realises Sooyoung is searching for footprints and other marks using UV sensors, and so she does it for her, finding a specific set that belonged to a certain criminal mastermind. She points Sooyoung to it, but is met with a cold shoulder, though it put a smile on her face when the detective drags her feet to exactly where Jiwoo pointed her to.

 

"These aren't Son Hyejoo's," Sooyoung proclaims firmly. She looks around the barren room, rid of everything except a few empty cardboard boxes strewn in a corner. "It was an automaton."

 

Jiwoo shakes her head, bending to take a closer look.

 

"Wait, that's not important. Look at the footsteps, they start from the middle of the room and lead right into that room. It's like it was a..."

 

Said room is closed, and Jiwoo closes her eyes to enhance her hearing even more. She hears the familiar ticking, confirming her suspicions.

 

Trap.

 

"We need to get out," Jiwoo says, not nearly with enough urgency as Sooyoung stands with her laser gun drawn to trace the footsteps toward the closed door.

 

Tick, tick, tick. It's getting faster.

 

Fucking motion sensors.

 

"Agent Ha! We need to get out right now!" No, it's going to be too late. Sooyoung is almost in reach of the knob on the door, and the cyborg sprints.

 

They get in the car and out the building right before the bomb detonates, collapsing the already weak infrastructure into useless debris.

 

"T-Thanks," Sooyoung chatters, and it's not even cold outside. Jiwoo releases her from her wickedly strong grip, placing her into her seat comfortably. "Can you stop calling me Robotface now?"

 

Sooyoung looks out of the window in reply and JJ drives the way home.

 

Home, as in Space Bar, of course. Sooyoung staggers out of her car, feeling nauseous from the recent turn of events. Jiwoo had returned home by JJ's exceptional driving, and that's not what has been making her stomach churned. The fact that she let something that endanger the lives of her and the stupid robot thing she works with-- if anything happened, she would never let herself live. She staggers into the neon pink monstrosity that calls itself a bar, and settles in her usual seat, away from the crowd and close to the drinks.

 

"You look like absolute shit," Haseul remarks, handing her a glass of warm water.

 

She grimaces. "What's with everyone and babying me today? Give me something strong." Haseul rolls her eyes, defiantly placing both her hands on the bar top and staring straight at her.

 

"Pull yourself together, and maybe I'll make you a drink. You look like you saw a ghost," Haseul throws her black hair behind her shoulder. Interesting, her hair was pink just yesterday, and grey as she recalled seeing on the commercial in the morning.

 

Sooyoung sips the water she's given, and eventually, Haseul makes her a drink. It's a funky cocktail, sweet and sickeningly green, and when Haseul informs her that the name of the drink is "Ghostbuster", she nearly gets out of her seat to throw a fist.

 

Fortunately for her, Haseul will live to see another day. No thanks to her jelly legs and weak arms. She does feel like shit.

 

In her weakened state, her mind lets its internal defences fall, and that's when she knows she's screwed. Memories flood her mind. Jinsoul's proposal, Haseul's massive birthday party, Chaewon's blonde hair when she first enrolled into the police academy...

 

Jungeun's face. Lips parted, breaths ragged, pretty brown eyes staring back into her own. The girl's resolve visibly crumbling; her nose inching forward ever so hesitantly. The one that she only got to see once, right before they almost kissed.

 

Sooyoung pours herself yet another shot while Haseul isn’t looking.

 

* * *

 

_"What, so you're disowning me now that I'm an alcoholic? To hell with your wedding vows and shit right?" Sooyoung spits, midway through her third bottle of wine._

 

_"That is not the reason I'm breaking up with you," Jinsoul retaliates, snatching the bottle away from her lips. "And you know that too."_

 

_Sooyoung snarls at her. “Not like you ever cared anyway. You married me to appease your parents. The high and mighty Jung family. Their golden child! Marrying the best detective they could lay their eyes on.”_

 

_“Just like I expected.” Jinsoul sounds disappointed. Sad, even. “I thought I meant at least something to you, but I guess not. You did agree to marry me, after all.”_

 

_“I was blackmailed. By the parents you love so much.”_

 

_The truth finally emerges, after years of bottling it up. Sooyoung reaches for another bottle of wine. Jinsoul doesn’t stop her._

 

_“I know,” Jinsoul replies, and it’s enough to make Sooyoung halt her movements abruptly._

 

_The rage is blinding. The bottle is thrown across the room, though it misses Jinsoul badly._

 

_“You knew, and you did NOTHING?!”_

 

_The remorse is clear on her face. But Sooyoung doesn’t feel bad for Jinsoul. Not one bit. She’s not the one whose lover is dead._

 

_“I just wanted you,” she says slowly, and it sounds more like an excuse than a confession. Sooyoung laughs mirthlessly, thinking of all the opportunities she let slip past her._

 

_Jungeun could have been hers. No hiding, no dancing around each other, no cheating, no wife standing in between them. She could have given Jungeun the life she wanted. The life they wanted._

 

_Everything comes back to her-- the name she called out repeatedly in her unconsciousness, the face that replayed in her mind when she was sure she was about to die, the kiss that almost happened, the person she was sure she loved, the girl that wasn't her wife._

 

_"Fuck off," is all she says. It's all she can say._

 

_Jinsoul does her best impression of her, and leaves._

 

* * *

 

Things were complicated then. Things are complicated now. That's just the most basic rule of the universe, isn't it? Billions of life forms out there but the gods chose to screw up her life over and over again. Funny.

 

Sooyoung sighs.

 

"You're so dramatic," Chaewon remarks. "It's just a month-long suspension."

 

"Yeah, I'm sure those who are stranded in open space have it much worse than you," Vivi adds. Sooyoung fiddles with her badge, the same one she would have to surrender for the next two weeks.

 

She can't help but feel terrible now that Jiwoo is dragged into the mess with her. That doesn't mean she likes her though, not for a long shot. Suddenly, she realises that Chaewon's obnoxious nickname for her, "Grandma Sooyoung that hates any and all technology" is pretty apt.

 

Said junior agent has already finished her food and is blabbering away about the Jeon Heejin case. Vivi's on her fifth tray of food, and Sooyoung can't fathom how the girl can enjoy boiled potatoes and greasy mock meat five whole times. She almost doesn't notice Jiwoo approaching her.

 

For the first time, she properly looks at the cyborg under the harsh white light of the cafeteria. Her single metal foot stands out, gleaming and gold and nothing like the rest of her body. She looks human, and feels human, as Sooyoung recalls from yesterday's whole fiasco. Her hair is dyed a deep shade of brown, not black as she thought, and she figures the girl would look good in any shade, and makes a mental note to introduce her to Haseul's hairstylist.

 

She knows she's staring, but she can't bring herself to care. There's even a mole on her face that accentuates her beauty. "I'm sorry," Jiwoo starts, bringing her out of a trance.

 

Chaewon nudges her with a kick under the table.

 

"Oh, oh right. Yeah, about yesterday, I was wrong to bring you there-"

 

"I'm sorry, oh my god. I couldn't take it, I-I told on you," Jiwoo cries out. "Now we're both suspended! I'm so sorry..."

 

A wail, and Vivi gets up to hold the poor girl in her arms. For a part-robot, she sure is emotional.

 

Sooyoung pats a single pat on the girl's head in an attempt to comfort her. "It's my fault, I'm the one who's... sorry?"

 

She looks back at Chaewon, who's fervently shaking her head yes, while frowning. I am very sorry, the younger girl mouths.

 

"Yes, yes. I am belly snorty," Sooyoung repeats, devoid of any emotion. Jiwoo cries harder.

 

She hears the sound of palm hitting face behind her.

 

"God, could you be any more stupid? She's shaking!" The ever-observant Vivi declares, and Sooyoung realises it's the first time she has heard the mild-mannered girl reprimand anyone. Great, so she managed to make a cyborg cry, and a nice person angry. Way to go!

 

Jiwoo eventually calms down when it's their time to visit the Director of the PBI.

 

Director Park is at the very least eccentric, and at the very most, a workaholic and a complete maniac.

 

Essentially, the same as Sooyoung.

 

(A/N: They turn in their laser guns and badges like in all the old, 2D police films Sooyoung has ever watched. Somehow, the practice never went out of style.)

 

He also screams at them for a whole three minutes until Jiwoo whines so violently that her metal throat starts wheezing out pink air that looks off-world and almost poisonous. Sooyoung takes a whiff. Oh no.

 

It is off-world alright, not poisonous though. Just slightly pungent and extremely, extremely potent.

 

Jiwoo went to a gas bar.

 

(A/N: Cyborgs don't get drunk because of their lack of a full circulatory system, but they do get drunk on, you got it, gases.)

 

They end up with four more weeks of suspension, no thanks to Jiwoo turning up to work inebriated (which explains all her early morning emotional tendencies, really) and Sooyoung making a fool of herself after sniffing the gas. Chaewon and Vivi, who had been waiting outside, also got two weeks of suspension just because the Director was in such a pissy mood after seeing both his best agents turn into mush, basically.

 

And of course, they have to spend the rest of their workless day at Space Bar. Of course.

 

Jiwoo elects to stay sober this time, citing "personal choice" and "bad decisions" as a factor. Sooyoung calls her a spoilsport, but it's not like Robotface could get drunk from drinking anyway.

 

Vivi wanders behind the bar to mess around with Haseul, which eventually ends up with the both of them vanishing to god-knows-where to do god-knows-what. They never could keep their hands to themselves, not around each other. It's kind of sweet, Jiwoo thinks, finding out from her database that the two are in fact, childhood friends from the same kindergarten. She also stumbles upon security camera footage from that time they got arrested for "inappropriate behaviour" and immediately deletes it from the database, because no one ever needs to see that.

 

This leaves Chaewon and Sooyoung, on either side of Jiwoo, ordering the most potent drinks they can get on a Tuesday noon from the bartender-that-is-not-Haseul. Sooyoung even shares her bottle of tteokbokki pills with the two girls while ranting about how the real food they serve in the cafeteria isn't nearly as good as fake food that comes in capsules. Chaewon had agreed while chugging down three more of those. This is the only modern invention that Sooyoung actually likes and finds useful, none of that Slap O'Clock, AI bullshit.

 

Well, other than Jiwoo. Maybe. Probably not.

 

She downs a few more drinks, and Chaewon doesn't even bother playing catch up.

 

"Robotface," she slurs, waiting for the girl to turn her head. "Read my mind."

 

"I can't do that," Jiwoo replies with a pained expression. "You told me not to."

 

Her intoxicated brain slowly sees a different face, this time with no bangs, no metal foot, just long brown hair and big, brown eyes.

 

No.

 

"Read my mind, find out what's wrong with it," she insists.

 

"I'm not programmed to do that, Agent Ha," the girl is adamant. "I'm sorry, I have to go."

 

Sooyoung watches the beautiful girl leave in a shimmer of blue and wonders if everyone around her ever stays.

 

She passes out, long before she can find an answer to her own question.

 

* * *

 

_She's back at work less than a month after she recovers. Technically, her psychologist hasn't cleared her and all her doctors were skeptical of her physical health, but she was Ha Sooyoung. No one could stop her._

 

_A few things have changed. Namely, she doesn't have a partner._

 

_Two, Jinsoul is her superior now. A superintendent._

 

_Three, her office is chillingly empty, and the desk beside hers has been cleared out._

 

_The pang in her chest does not go unnoticed, and she holds out doing random paperwork until she can get off work and drown it out with alcohol._

 

_On her second day back, a coworker had asked if she wanted to swap offices, and it was nice of him really, but Sooyoung couldn't bring herself to say yes. She could never leave that damn place, no matter how much it fucking hurt._

 

_Her third day, and she has to be woken up by the janitor, after passing out from crying on Jungeun's desk._

 

* * *

 

The next few days of her unemployment go by in a blur. She gets drunk, she gets home, wakes up, goes to the bar to get drunk again and the cycle repeats. Occasionally she'll slip in a few joy rides on JJ, but she can't drive for more than fifteen minutes before the self-destruct timer kicks in and she has to shut the whole thing down. Damn the PBI and their rules with PBI-issued cars.

 

Sooyoung likes to remain optimistic that she's not losing her marbles. Yet. Maybe she should stop drinking so much, go on a diet even, and listen to Luna, for once.

 

She finds herself at Space Bar by the end of the day.

 

"Oh god," she starts, about to go on another rant that Haseul is yet again going to ignore. "I really want to feel what it’s like to live on the 1928th floor. Kids these days have it all handed to them. Look at Chaewon, that short little thing has her own car already! Not even a PBI-issued one!"

 

"Hey, I'll have you know I am a perfectly independent adult and I bought my car with my own money! I'm only ten years your junior, and you've been working for what-- forty years?" Chaewon slurs, her retort sounding that much more unconvincing as she struggles to keep her eyes open.

 

"Twenty, I am NOT that old you little thing!" Sooyoung reaches both her arms over to grab Chaewon by her shoulders, shaking her violently. "Come here, I'll f--"

 

"Okay, okay, break it up now, that's enough," Haseul sticks her hand in between the two, groaning. "Sooyoung, you need to slow it down man, you're killing my business, and yourself! And you, Park Chaewon, you're supposed to be looking out for the old hag but instead you got yourself drunk-- and oh, oh, oop, down you go. Why am I even talking to you guys?"

 

Haseul sets their heads down on the bar top and watches her friends drift into unconsciousness. Slowly, and then all at once. Then, something weird happens.

 

Sooyoung's phone rings. It never rings, because Sooyoung is that loser whose only friends are either from work, or the bartender she patrons way too often.

 

Obviously the girl is too intoxicated to say anything appropriate, or wake up even, so Haseul takes the liberty to answer it for her. She doesn't recognise the number, but answers the call anyway, hoping for the best.

 

A sweet "hello" greets her.

 

"I've been expecting you, Senior Agent Ha Sooyoung," came the same smooth voice. It's a girl, and a young one at that, as far as Haseul can tell.

 

"Oh, about that... I'm not-"

 

"I know you've been researching about me for the past decade. Oh, but what you don't know is that I know all about you, Detective. About your past relations with the Deputy Director, your flings, your work hours, your unhealthy diet, even your favourite drink at your favourite bar, your-"

 

"Wait, what's her- I mean my favourite drink?" Haseul enquires. To be honest, she has never received a truthful answer to this from Sooyoung before. She needs it, for science.

 

The voice chuckles. "Frozen avocado margaritas, easy."

 

What, really? Those?

 

"Oh uh, yeah right! Y-you really got me there haha! Also, um, who the hell might you be?"

 

A pause, and Haseul is almost afraid that the girl has hung up.

 

"Behold, for I am your worst nightmare, detective. Your arch nemesis! Your big bad villain! I'm-" Sooyoung starts to stir from her sleep, and her moving hand nearly knocks a glass off the bar top. Haseul moves it away carefully, clumsily moving the phone away from her ear as well.

 

"Sorry, didn't get that. What was that you said?" Haseul replies, reaching for a napkin to wipe the drool off Sooyoung's face.

 

"Detective, I'll have you know that I don't play games."

 

Haseul shrugs. "Well, I do."

 

"Well."

 

"Well."

 

"Well. I have Jeon Heejin in my custody and if you want her alive and still kicking, meet me in four day's time at The Penthouse. I won't wait long, and I won't hesitate to kill any other PBI agents on sight. See you soon, Detective."

 

The call is broken up, and Haseul almost shakes the whole encounter off until she realises that, oh, that was The Big Bad, Son Hyejoo! On the phone! With her! Sooyoung needs to know this.

 

After a few slaps don't work, she wakes Sooyoung up with a bucket of ice water over her head.

 

Taking in all the information that Haseul is relaying to her, a slobbering Sooyoung decides to do the thing where she just gives up because, what is she going to do? And, the PBI is probably going to solve the mystery soon so what's the point? She thanks Haseul, but leaves to go home. All she wants is a good night's sleep. Jeon Heejin can wait for the useless PBI agents to get to her.

 

* * *

 

_"Why Jinsoul?" Jungeun asks._

 

_Sooyoung looks to her ring, then out of the window from the passenger's seat. She never had a good answer to that question._

 

_"Necessity," Sooyoung replies through gritted teeth. "I said yes because I thought I loved her enough."_

 

_She doesn’t tell Jungeun about how she was threatened by two powerful ministers-- Jung Jinsoul’s parents. She doesn’t expose how slimy their hands felt shaking hers when she agreed to marry their daughter. She keeps to herself, how she would have lost this job-- her dream job, the only job she could ever imagine herself doing-- had she not walked down the aisle with their daughter. She bites her tongue to prevent herself from calling Jinsoul just ‘her close friend’, like she’d always been, for years. Before Jinsoul’s parents decided their daughter would be better off if she had a trophy wife._

 

_"N-necessity?" The girl's eyes widen at the insinuation._

 

_Sooyoung can't bring herself to give a reply. She still loves Jinsoul. Not in the way she knows she loves Jungeun. Instead, she puts on a smile. "Let's go to Mars."_

 

_"Okay," Jungeun smiles back. Not prodding, not crossing any lines she knows not to. It's easy. Sooyoung likes easy._

 

_Sooyoung likes being with Jungeun._

 

_(She wonders what could have been if she never said "yes".)_

 

* * *

 

Three loud knocks on her door wake her up. Or technically, they shake her alert as she'd been in bed for the whole morning contemplating Son Hyejoo's words, relayed to her by Haseul who may have glossed over some parts because her excited ass could not keep herself together. All while suffering from what must be the most bone-crushing, head-spinning, blackhole-inducing headache in the galaxy.

 

(A/N: How "blackhole-inducing" ever become such a popular saying is the question of the millennia. It doesn't even make sense, and future generations are going to tip their brains over trying to find out what it means, like the many words of the past that have lost meaning over the years. What the fuck is a "Stan Loona" anyway? Scientists have yet to find out.)

 

Back to the knocks on the door-- Sooyoung takes two steps off her bed and already has to steady herself against her study table. She moves forward, gritting her teeth while replying "coming!" to the rude asshat that started knocking violently again.

 

She opens the door, expecting one of those pesky blimp salesman, but instead sees Chaewon. Same difference.

 

"Wakey wakey, you got a delivery! I bought breakfast," the younger agent chirps while shoving a bag full of bottles of pills into her hand. Her eyebrows still furrowed and wince still etched into her face, she rummages through the bag. Fried chicken, pass. Dumplings, pass. Ramen, eh... Not today. Ooh, french fries.

 

She closes the door as Chaewon lets herself in and props herself against her bar top, facing her. "Get dressed."

 

"I am still hungover, if you haven't noticed. Badly hungover."

 

"Grandma," Chaewon comments snarkily, earning herself a hard knock on the head. It's almost appropriate though, because the younger girl looks like she's ready to fight a space pirate even though she was just as wasted last night.

 

She goes to get dressed anyway, to the tune of her junior's whines.

 

"Where are we going?" She asks, a bit too late she notices, as Chaewon drags her to out of her apartment.

 

"You mean, who are we going to?" is her mysterious reply. Sooyoung huffs, dangling her keys in her hands and raising her eyebrows, as if threatening to return home with them.

 

"Alright, alright. It's Jiwoo. She's got a plan for us to save Jeon Heejin and capture Son Hyejoo for good."

 

"Haseul told her? Also I'm suspended," Sooyoung replies almost dumbly. The tiniest of smiles tug at her lips. "So is Robotface."

 

They smirk at each other. "When have you ever let that stop you?"

 

"Wait," Sooyoung says, realisation hitting as her face falls. "My car is PBI-issued, I can't drive it."

 

"How do you think I got here?" Chaewon asks amusedly, as a whole ass pirate ship, complete with the Jolly Roger, sails, deck and all, rises up and blocks her view of the city.

 

 

* * *

 

 

"You own a pirate ship?!"

 

"Yes, I'm a businesswoman, Sooyoung. I'm surprised you don't know of my other money-making ventures outside of bartending at Space Bar, which I own, by the way. In case you never noticed."

 

"I knew that," Sooyoung replies smugly. "Wait, what do you mean other ventures? Like, other than this giant pirate ship you own?"

 

"The gas bar I visited belonged to Haseul," Jiwoo says wistfully. She glances over to where Haseul is sitting on a plush pink sofa, Vivi draped over her side. "According to my lungs and my calculations, it was the second best time of my life."

 

"What was the first best?" Vivi asks, more out of necessity than curiosity anyway, but Jiwoo's cheeks still tint pink instantly. Shit, her and her tiny circulatory system.

 

Haseul looks up instantly, face full of shock and amusement. "Oh my god, oh my- What?! The cyborg's not a virgin? How?"

 

"Haseul!" All four of them cry out in unison.

 

"What, like you guys don't want to know?"

 

They awkwardly avert eye contact, and Jiwoo just bolts for one of the many rooms on the ship. They pretend not to notice the embarrassingly shade of hot pink her face had been.

 

"Now you've scared her away," Sooyoung says, more amusedly than accusatory. "Where are we headed?"

 

"By Jiwoo's calculations, the bomb that detonated in the residential complex was probably planted by the syndicate in an attempt to eliminate anyone who tried to dig up Son Hyejoo's past, namely you," Chaewon supplies thoughtfully. "And from a piece of the shrapnel she collected at the explosion, she found that the metal lining the reagents in the bomb were found exclusively in only one place in the galaxy."

 

"That's... brilliant," Sooyoung breathes out. She had barely been able to function over the past two days, and Jiwoo had done all that? Probably took her less than a second for her robot brain to process all that, but it's still impressive. Sooyoung finds herself having more fondness for the girl, rare for someone she's met for only three days. "So we're going to find the source of that metal now, aren't we? And where's that?"

 

Haseul replies, “The metal is stainless steel, something so weak it hasn’t been mass produced for 400 years. The only place you can find it now? Lost World.”

 

Lost World. Sooyoung tries to hide the smile that emerges with the memory.

 

* * *

 

_“Look at this! An unmatched sock. It even has little ears sticking out of it. How useless!”_

 

_Sooyoung guffaws at the sight. Jungeun is holding the small sock by her fingertips, grimacing from the smell yet still refusing to let go of it until Sooyoung sees its. Now that she has, the detective throws it as far away as she can, whining when it falls an unsatisfying two feet in front of her._

 

_“Loser,” Sooyoung comments, picking up what looks like an old shoe with a tick extending along its side. Some sort of fashion statement, or whatever._

 

_Jungeun either doesn’t hear the insult, or chooses to ignore it, because she’s running across the sea of trash between them, something held gingerly in her hand. Flowers, it seems._

 

_Fake ones. “‘I’d love you till these flowers wilt’,” Jungeun reads off the battered card attached to the bouquet of fake roses. The paper holding them all together is coming apart. The ribbon hangs by a thread, barely even attached to the entire thing anymore. Jungeun has a streak of dirt painted across her cheek._

 

_They shouldn't be here. She shouldn't be indulging in more off-world trips than dates with her wife._

 

_Yet, all Sooyoung’s heart does is beat faster upon hearing those manufactured words come out of Jungeun’s mouth. All she does is smile when Jungeun laments the lack of silly romantic antics in modern courtship. All she can say is “yeah, I miss the olden days too,” while Jungeun continues her rant._

 

_All she wants is to give Jungeun flowers that would never wilt._

 

_She unintentionally leaves her ring behind in Lost World. Jinsoul doesn’t seem to have noticed when she gets a new one._

 

* * *

 

Her phone rings a distinct ringtone, and she picks it up in surprise. "Jinsoul? What's up?"

 

"Hey," came the soft voice on the other end. Sooyoung feels her heart ache. "Just wanted to check in on you. Are you okay? The whole suspension thing must have been tough on you and I heard that you got wasted last night so I wanted to deliver some of that broth I make that you used to like so much."

 

Aw, shit. The soup, oh, her soup.

 

"Thanks. Just… Please don't bother, I-I'm not home," she stammers through her unconvincing lie. "Chaewon is determined to make our, er, jobless life exciting so we're on a tour right now."

 

"Around Old Seoul City?"

 

"Are you stupid? No, Jinsoul, not Old Seoul City, for fuck's sake. There's nothing there," Sooyoung replies with a tad too much bitterness in her voice. "We're taking a ship off-world."

 

It's half a lie, and Sooyoung convinces herself that Jinsoul can live with that. She herself can live with that.

 

"Alright," although she sounds not a single bit convinced. "Stay safe. And stay out of trouble."

 

It sounds like a warning. She hangs up after saying her goodbyes, and glances out of the window.

 

* * *

 

_She spends more time after work in Jungeun's PBI-issued jeep then she does at home. It's a worrying sign, but she pays no notice to it. Not like Jinsoul is especially observant about the times at which she comes home anyway._

 

_(They both always return home to empty beds, for some reason.)_

 

_They fly off and explore the aftermaths of supernovas, asteroid belts, ancient Earth, the second coming of the Moon, and even ended up once in Lost World, which is a planet made up entirely of things humans have lost over thousands of years._

 

_She tells herself it's casual, it's fun, it's just two PBI detectives using their privileges to relieve some stress. That she could continue her little escapades with Jungeun. That it was no big deal. Except, it was._

 

_The day she realises she feels so much more for the person beside her at work than she does for the one waiting at home for her is the day she loses her mind thinking ‘what could have been’._

 

_And the day she finds out Jungeun looks at her like she hung the stars up for her to admire as constellations is the day she has to cry herself to sleep, because she knows she could never give her the love she deserved._

 

_She never wanted to be a heartbreaker, but then again, that is all she is._

 

* * *

After dinner, Haseul puts her ship (appropriately dubbed the Friendship, because it's the ship that never sinks) on auto-pilot and it drifts through the night, whisking through clouds, smog and skyscrapers alike.

 

Her companions are all sleeping-- Chaewon in the smallest bedroom, Jiwoo in the bigger one, Haseul in the cockpit, with Vivi in her lap. Yet, the world around her still bustles with life, neon signs flashing past her, other ships floating by blasting edgy music at them, apartment lights turning on, and then off, and on again.

 

Sooyoung stays out on the deck alone, not exactly enjoying the polluted air, but still feeling refreshed nonetheless. Breezes are after all, hard to get when the dystopian world you live in surrounds you in buildings that go miles high.

 

She watches meditatively as Old Seoul City, New Seoul City, New New Busan are left behind in the dust, the ship cruising through the high-rise apartments and buildings turn after turn, and remembers why she never regretted becoming a PBI agent. For the world she loved, and the galaxy she wanted to explore, and the universe that fascinated her. She would do anything to protect this abomination of a place.

 

And now, she must complete her mission, gun and badge or without.

 

Jiwoo comes to mind, for some reason.  The cyborg is more competent than she could have hoped, and is a cheerful presence that brings a little colour into her dull life.

 

Jiwoo reminds her of Jungeun, in some ways. Sooyoung finds herself smiling at the thought.

 

Her mind wanders restlessly to The Big Bad, and she finds that the white-hot rage she used to feel for that wretched girl has dulled to an ache in her chest. Seeking retribution has jaded her. Numbed her. She can’t help but think that all she will feel is empty after capturing Son Hyejoo. Yet, that’s all she wants.

 

The smile drops, and she sighs. She’s used to the emptiness already, after all.

 

"Jeon Heejin, you poor bastard. We're coming to get you."

 

 


	2. hyunjin, and the non-benefits of working with an intergalactic supervillain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> two gangs, chilling on a planet, five hundred feet apart cos they're not gay
> 
> (or alternatively: the writer decides that adding 2jin to the expanding fictional universe would be a good idea)

Heejin wakes up to a harsh slap on her face.

 

"It's breakfast time, it's breakfast time, it's breakfast time," the Slap O'Clock 2000 alarm blares into her ear, going on a continuous loop. Spoiler alert, it does not stop for the next three minutes.

 

She's not one to resort to violence, but she feels almost compelled to yank the robotic hand out of the wall. It finally stops after a while, and she heaves a sigh of relief. She was dangerously close.

 

She inspects her cell again, and it's no different from the day before. Still the plain old stone walls closing in around her and her tiny bed that can't even accommodate the length of her legs. The bedspread is thin, and her cheap metal bed frame did nothing to support her back whatsoever. Breakfast, or whatever the alarm promised her, is non-existent.

 

Okay, she digresses. Back to forming an escape plan for the third day in a row. Let's do a recap:

 

Day one, she gets captured, flew on a blimp for approximately 20 minutes or 3 hours; she can't tell because time is iffy when you have a sack over your head. She gets placed into this room nay, cell, and it's about as big as a tile in her home. Heejin doesn't cry.

 

Day two, she sees The Big Baddie herself, Son Hyejoo. Dressed in a plain black pant suit and accessorised with a damn tie and Heejin's gotta admit, the girl is hella cute. But she only comes twice in the day to bring her food, which is plain old kimchi she's sure has been around for at least a hundred years because it's so stale. Heejin cries.

 

Day three, she still hasn't found any route out. She can't see past more than a little of the corridor, and she's sure it's just lined with other empty prison cells like hers, like in those documentaries she used to watch about the twenty-first century. Son Hyejoo comes again, this time in a fashionable, lacey white dress, and Heejin positively stares for two minutes as the criminal laments to her about her subordinates. Heejin sheds approximately three tears. From yawning; from boredom.

 

"They're just so... stupid, you know? I thought automatons would have taken over the world by now but they can't seem to do anything right," Hyejoo slaps her hands together and startles Heejin while trying to make her point. "I must be bothering you, I should go..."

 

"You're my kidnapper, you're allowed to bother me."

 

"Oh, that's right. I'm kind of rusty," Hyejoo smiles crookedly, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "I haven't interacted with another human in ages."

 

Her tone is wistful, and Heejin finds herself feeling sad for her. The life of crime must be a lonely one... 

 

"How's the kimchi?"

 

"Um, good?"

 

"It's literally a hundred years old. I stole it from some old lady's farm in Old Old Old Old Old Daegu. That place is amazing, you know? The lady who lives there is called Irene and she is like as old as the city itself. She lives there under all the smog and tar, alone. She says it's peaceful and no one bothers her."

 

"Sounds very lonely to me," Heejin gives a reply, putting down the kimchi after her suspicions are confirmed.

 

"Yeah, it does get lonely sometimes."

 

Heejin takes one look at the girl, and knows she's not talking about the old lady in Old Old Old Old Old Daegu anymore.

 

The crime boss leaves after a few, and Heejin begins formulating her escape plan. She figured out that the wall she's been sleeping against was hollow after accidentally banging her head onto it while sleeping. It made her so happy that she had squealed and collided her head against the wall again. Pressing her ears to the wall, she had also found out that it was highly possible she was sleeping next to the generator powering the building, of all things.

 

She waits for the day to end as the machines next door whir into silence. Hyejoo came around for dinner but left hastily, her face covered in grease as she apologised for not being able to stay. A weird person to be the boss of the greatest intergalactic syndicate in human history, Heejin thinks. When she's assured that Hyejoo is either asleep or gone, she climbs underneath the space of her bed (if she can even call the simple metal platform a bed) and knocks on it. 

 

It's hollow for sure, but now she needs something to break a hole into it. Something glimmers in the dark, and Heejin almost squeals again. (She never squeals.)

 

It's the spoon that Hyejoo gave her with the meal. The girl never bothered to clean it up in her haste, so the utensils were left behind. Bless her and her carelessness.

 

She takes one long look at the dark corridor, and when nobody comes around for ten minutes, she crawls back under the bed, hammers a hole into wall, and starts digging.  
  


* * *

She’s underground, for sure.

 

There’s a humming, and rapid vibrations that shake the giant tunnel-like structure she’s in. There’s the generators she’s been hearing for days, but they can’t be causing the earthquake-like symptoms. There’s a faint chugging noise, characteristic of the obselete trains she learnt about in Pre-tech Human History classes, coming from below her.

 

All of a sudden, a loud screeching noise erupts. The ground below her crumbles. 

 

_ This is how I die _ , she thinks, before falling through a gaping hole in the ground.

 

* * *

 

Hyunjin hates working with automatons.

 

They make her boss look like a saint, and that girl she works for is literally a notorious intergalactic villain. They barely even communicate in person-- Hyejoo prefers sending RJ to relay her messages. Hyunjin reckons that she might not hold back the next time the robotic canary appears in the tunnel, the only reason being how annoying RJ is. (“Message from: Hyejoo, Son. Transport the steel to The Penthouse. Transport the steel to The Penthouse. Transport the steel to The Penthouse. Transport the steel to The Penthouse. Transport the steel to The Penthouse. Transport the steel to The Penthouse.” This carried on for five minutes, every hour, for a day.)

 

Her point is proven when a cleaning robot (A/N: Advertised to ‘clean every single possible surface known to man’.) starts climbing up her leg and sucking the dirt off her socks. Granted, she does need some refurbishing below her waist, but what’s the point when no one around appreciates her cleanliness anyway? Also, while we’re on that, she hasn’t taken a bath in days. 

 

Or weeks. Time is iffy when you’re underground all the time.

 

The intercom alerts her of her very real, very boring full-time job. “Hyunjin. Hyunjin. Hyunjin. Help. The train is turning back. Brakes have malfunctioned. It’s gonna crash and boss is going to be angry. Hyunjin. Hyunjin. Hyunjin. Help.”

 

She rolls her eyes, putting on her goggles, prepared to single-handedly save their wretched operation yet again. There’s a train barrelling towards their part of the tunnel at full speed right now. That’s  _ the _ train, carrying the ever-important stainless steel. Nothing can make her life worse at this point.

 

A shrill scream diverts her attention from the control system. Rocks start falling from above her, and she realises in horror that the ceiling to the tunnel is crumbling. Illuminated by nothing but the light of a few holographic screens, Hyunjin squints, trying to find the source of the crack. 

 

The scream gets louder. And closer.

 

The ceiling bursts open right above her, and Hyunjin is unfazed. A screaming boulder has chosen the perfect time to come take her out. Well. 

 

That’s perfect! 

 

Except the boulder isn’t a boulder. It’s a damn human. In her arms. Covered in dirt and piling more dust onto an already filthy Hyunjin. 

 

“Hey! You saved my life,” the not-boulder (a girl) wheezes out with effort. She’s almost as unfazed as Hyunjin, despite the fact that she’d been screaming her whole way down. “Thanks.”

 

“HYUNJIN. HYUNJIN. HYUNJIN. THE TRAIN. HYUNJIN. THE TRAAAAAAAIN.” The intercom calls again. Oh no. She’d completely forgotten about that. 

 

She hears familiar chugging, and pulls the not-boulder and herself out and away from the tracks. They fall into the mess of empty boxes the automatons had came in, their safety cushion comfortably saving both their lives as the train speeds right pass them, a hair’s breadth away from where they were just standing. 

 

“My saviour. So your name’s Hyunjin, mine’s--”

 

She never gets to hear the name of the not-boulder (Hyunjin still hasn’t realised it’s a girl) in her arms. Instead, the train drives straight into the dead end a hundred metres ahead, exploding into a myriad of blue, red and orange flames that almost singe them. Hyunjin finds herself instinctively using herself as a human shield, rolling over the startled girl (now she has). 

 

The flames illuminate her face. Hyunjin feels her cheeks heating up. The explosion could have been a factor. But close proximity to someone as stunning as this non-automaton, not-Hyejoo, human  _ girl  _ probably is a bigger contributor. 

 

“Jeon Heejin.” The girl seems to breathe right again after the flames have died out slightly. Hyunjin switches on the lamp attached to her helmet. 

 

She’s Heejin. Jeon Heejin. Of all the people that could have ended up in her arms, the ever-expanding universe chose to give her the worst possible person to save. 

 

“Oh.” 

 

“Oh?”

 

“Oh,” Hyunjin says again, nodding and with more emphasis. 

 

Heejin just looks at her, confused. “Do you speak?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Okay…” Heejin squints. “Please get off me. Your lamp is hurting my eyes.”

 

“Sorry.” Hyunjin carefully pushes herself away, standing upright.

 

“Can you get me out of here? I’m running from my kidnapper,” Heejin asks, brushing dust out of her jacket.

 

“No.” Hyunjin’s reply comes with an internal grimace, and a monotonous voice.

 

“Why not?”

 

“I work for your kidnapper.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Yeah, oh.” When she thinks Heejin can’t hear her, she murmurs under her breath, “Why me?! Why is it always me??”

 

* * *

 

 

_ “We’ll say ‘freeze!”, like cops do! We’ll get our guns ready, remember how to do that? And then we’ll shoot the bad guys! Pew pew--”  _

 

_ Footsteps, ones that are ever so familiar and terror-inducing, grow louder. Their finger guns are lowered immediately. She sees the older girl’s hands draw into fists. _

 

_ “In there, now.” _

 

_ “But--” _

 

_ The footsteps cease. There’s a knock on their door, the rotting wood making a hollow sound.  _

 

_ “Now, Hyunjin!”  _

 

_ She doesn’t protest anymore, the fear gripping her throat. She pulls open the cover to the hole in the ground, and squeezes herself into it. A plank is pulled over her.  _

 

_ The knocking becomes an incessant, impatient rhythm. It’s probably just their neighbour asking for some sugar. Again. _

 

_ “Coming!” _

 

_ She shuts her eyes, trying to still her rapid heart.  _

 

_ Nobody can know she’s here. _

 

_ It happens all the time. There’s sometimes days between visits from strangers, sometimes weeks. Either way, Hyunjin learns to get used to the darkness. _

 

_ Because nobody can know she exists. _

 

* * *

“Why you what?” Heejin rises from amongst the boxes, looking around the darkness. The only light available is still Hyunjin. “I’ll pay you to get me out of here.”

 

Hyunjin blinks, swallowing nothing in particular. She doesn’t give an answer.

 

“You gonna tell me how to get out of here or what?”

 

“The train would have been our ride. I can show you the only other way out. It leads right to Son Hyejoo’s lab, which is where you came from.”

 

“I literally took hours to dig myself out of there.” Heejin’s voice shrinks with her demeanour, “With a spoon.” The last part is barely a wheeze. The disbelief in her voice is apparent. Hyunjin understands. She feels disappointed for her.

 

Hyunjin stares straight at her and then takes a pensive look around them. The sizzling automatons and leftover debris of the train prove her point. It gets harder to hold Heejin’s contemplative gaze, because she’s biting her lip and narrowing her eyes. Hyunjin realises in that moment that she might have a thing for human girls, a realisation she’s already made a few years back. It really has been too long since she’s talked to someone that isn’t an AI over the intercom or a robotic bird. 

 

(A/N: Her heart is also beating loudly in her chest, but that’s information that isn’t really essential. Chances are, you’re expecting her to fall in love with Heejin. Chances are, you’re already correct. It’s 2532. Romance isn’t outdated yet. Still, Hyunjin has better things to do in this trainwreck of a life than fall in love. At least, that’s what she thinks.)

 

Heejin doesn’t say a word when she’s led to the elevator. 

 

* * *

The ride back up from 247 storeys below takes less than a second. Heejin doesn’t even get to exhale before she’s greeted by a big white room with a single sofa in the middle. Hyejoo is pacing, right in front of them. Her head turns slowly when she hears the soft ‘ding’. The counter in the elevator tells her that they’re exactly 300 storeys below the surface. A perfect prison, honestly. Heejin is sort of impressed she even made it that far.

 

“Oh! Welcome back. I was wondering where you went,” Hyejoo says simply when the elevator doors open. “You brought someone. And who might you be?”

 

“Boss. I’m Hyunjin.”

 

Hyejoo’s face lights up with the realisation. “Oh, sorry. My memories with people in my life are fuzzy. Which is odd, really, because I only have you guys and that stupid detective. Haha, that’s three people I can’t even keep track of. Fun!”

 

She goes back to pacing.

 

Heejin shoots a judgemental look, but it goes unnoticed. “Okay…” 

 

“Anyways, this is my new plan now that you’ve acquainted yourself with Hyunjin. You will follow her, on the pod, to RDV 18.6y-- that’s the planet where The Penthouse is.” A pause. “I don’t have to tell you that. You already know that. All rich people do. That’s like a super popular vacation spot. I have the money to buy it but because I’m me, I have to hijack it instead. Make my extravagant weapons in someone else’s extravagant vacation home, just because. How exhausting. You ever think about how tough this job is? Because it is. You law-abiding goonies have it way easier…”

 

Hyunjin raises her hand. Hyejoo rattles on for another minute before noticing.

 

“You will be unloaded onto my ship. It’s invisible by the way. Parked it over The Penthouse like a week ago. Can never be too prepared. So you guys stay there in my mobile lab… Wait, you’re not allowed touch any of the equipment, just in case you forget. Ah, yes! Questions! That’s why people raise their hands. Please.”

 

“Is this a good time to tell you that all our steel is gone?” For the first time, Hyunjin’s voice carries some type of emotion. Heejin reckons this is as close to “scared” Hyunjin can get. But the last time she checked-- and by that she means Hyunjin’s unmistakable warmth when shielding her from the debris-- Hyunjin was human, not a robot.

 

* * *

_ “I’m scared,” Hyunjin whines, letting her fear be known. It’s barely a whisper, but she knows the other girl in the room can hear her, even from underneath the floorboards.  _

 

_ The space feels tighter than it once was. Maybe it’s because she’s growing up, growing big. Maybe she just hates it in there, even though she’s used to it. Maybe it’s both. _

 

_ “Just stay a little while more. You’ll be safe down there. You won’t need to stay there much longer, I promise.” _

 

_ Hyunjin doesn’t reply. A beat later, she hears a broken sob and “I’m sorry” come out of her sister’s mouth. _

 

_ It’s a long wait for the footsteps to disappear, and for her to finally emerge from the hole in the ground to hold her sister. It’s not her fault. None of this is her fault.  _

 

* * *

A chunk of hair falls from her fringe, landing between her eyes. Hyejoo huffs, trying to get it out the way. Heejin thinks she looks stupid. Realising that this is the same person that kidnapped her from her tightly-secured home in the clouds leaves a little dent in her ego, to be honest. Was it that easy? She even had a zero-G moat behind the forcefield. This is just sad. Hyejoo looks like a kid. _ Is that an apple stem in her hair? _

 

“Well. Excuse me, I’ll have to go postpone our rendezvous with the detective, then.”

 

How unexpectedly forgiving of her. Heejin catches the tiniest sigh of relief from Hyunjin.

 

Hyejoo pulls out her iPhone DXLIII Plus, and makes the phone call immediately. All Heejin can do is quirk an eyebrow and look at Hyunjin in disbelief, while all Hyunjin can do is stand stoically while waiting for her next orders. 

 

(A/N: While in name, the iPhone has evolved into its 543rd iteration, nothing much has changed since the 10th edition came out nearly five centuries ago. At some point during the 23rd century, Apple had taken over the world and under their totalitarian rule, and managed to force all of humanity into using only Apple smartphone products. Smartphone technology stalled as everything else evolved, and till now, Apple remains the sole provider of personal mobile gadgets on Earth. Legend has it that the cryo frozen body of overlord Tim Cook lies in the centre of a pyramid in Old Old Old Old Old Egypt, but that might just be history being warped after years of widespread propaganda.) 

 

“Do we have to do what she says?”

 

Hyunjin nods. 

 

“I’ll pay you to drive the pod off-course. We can escape and you can get the payment when I get my freedom.”

 

Hyunjin sighs. “I’m not looking for money.” After a thoughtful pause, she continues, “I’m sorry. I honestly hate this job, but I need it.”

 

“Even though I can pay you way more?” Heejin asks, voice barely audible. Her hopes for an escape route are diminishing by the second. Not like they weren’t already dashed. Twice.

 

“I told you. I’m not looking for money.”

 

Make that thrice _._ _Ouch_.

“Come on,” Hyunjin beckons after a long beat of them staring at each other, “I’ll get you acquainted with the pod.”

 

* * *

_ As she grew older, Hyunjin comes to realise that her sister promised her a lot of things. Some were forgotten about, blatantly ignored-- but some, she kept till the end. _

 

_ When Hyunjin is 14, and her sister 24, the older girl comes home with a badge in her hand, and a dog tag in another. The gleaming crest of the PBI shines under the harsh white light of their little room, and shimmers like the ray of light at the end of a tunnel.  _

 

_ “I told you. Soon, you won’t need to stay in there anymore. Just a little while more.” _

 

_ Hyunjin smiles, and wraps her in a tight hug.  _

 

_ Life will get much easier from now on. _

 

* * *

A shrill noise wakes up the two in the cockpit. The classic ringtone of an iPhone. 

 

“Whomst dares waketh me on a holy day thus?”

 

If she wasn’t already, Haseul’s voice would have jolted Vivi awake. 

 

Vivi, of course, the closest in proximity (read: in Haseul’s embrace), retorts promptly to the rude awakening. “Haseul, stop trying to make old English happen. It’s never going to come back.”

 

The ringing hasn’t stopped. Haseul makes a move to check on the noise.

 

“Besides, you’re completely wrong on that. Waketh is not even a-”

 

It’s Sooyoung’s phone. “Hello?” 

 

“Detective! Son Hyejoo here. Lovely morning, isn’t it? See, funny story: I have to make a detour because my subordinate and her incompetent automaton friends-”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Get to the point. You woke me up, so this better be important.”

 

Haseul catches the pause. “Circumstances have called for a rescheduling of our appointment, it seems. Let’s meet two days later than the timing we agreed upon.”

 

“Sure. Anything else?” The line goes silent. “Great. Thanks. I’m going to sleep now.”

 

“Detective-”

 

Haseul hangs the phone up, barely realising that Hyejoo had more to say.

 

“Who was that?”

 

“The Big Bad. I should tell Sooyoung about this.”

 

“You should,” Vivi replies, gazing out the window, “Though I have a feeling she might not be too interested in what Son Hyejoo has to say.”

 

Haseul follows her line of sight, stepping towards the glass. And there it is-- Lost World, heaps of trash piled on top of one another, stretching and stretching and stretching. A single moon orbits the planet, and from her well-travelled perspective, Lost World looked as desolate as it did spectacular.

 

She moves to go wake Sooyoung up, only to find the girl not only up and ready, but eating breakfast.

 

With Jiwoo, while observing the new-found view.

 

“She insisted,” Sooyoung drones, noticing Haseul’s presence and slightly startled expression. It could both be attributed to the existence of real, hot, steaming congee in her hands, or the fact that she’s bonding with Jiwoo, or both. “I was fine eating pills.”

 

“Of course.” Haseul smiles sweetly, hiding the fact that she thinks Sooyoung looks adorable for a middle aged woman wearing pink pajamas. She continues, “Your phone rang. Son Hyejoo wants to meet two days later than the original date. Guess her plans went to shit, somehow.”

 

Sooyoung hums. “Damn. Must be rough to be a intergalactic supervillain.” 

 

The ship enters the planet’s orbit, auto-piloting smoothly into a descent. Haseul grabs some congee in the meantime.

 

While the two humans converse about the needless existence of real food anymore, Jiwoo gasps loudly all of a sudden, looking out the window. Both of them turn to look at her.

 

She grins sheepishly when she notices their eyes on her. “Sorry, I thought I saw something, heh… Wait, there it is again!”

 

A single, probing periscope sticks out from the top of a mountain of garbage. It turns slowly, examining the surroundings.

 

“SHIT! Haseul, turn on the invisibility!”

 

“Who do you think I am? Son Hyejoo? My ship can’t turn invisible!”

 

“So noisy…” Chaewon greets them, joining the screaming trio by the balcony.

 

Jiwoo cries. Sooyoung exclaims, “We’re going to get found out!” 

 

Haseul yells back, “By who? Who is that? Nobody lives on Lost World!”

 

The periscope halts, having spotted the giant pirate ship currently only a few hundred feet off the ground. They go silent for a moment, having an imaginary stare down with that unusually old piece of technology.

 

“I’ve actually only ever heard of periscopes,” Sooyoung confesses. “Never thought I’d get to see one.”

 

“This is Lost World after all,” Haseul comments thoughtfully. “I’m guessing there’s a whole lot more waiting for us down there.”

 

That’s the last thing they all hear, before the periscope disappears, only to reappear as a giant hole in the ground, swallowing their whole ship in less than a second.

 

* * *

“INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS!”

 

“SHUT UP, RJ! I KNOW!”

 

Hyejoo’s yells distract the pair for a second. They both look up from the gaming consoles in their hands, now feeling slightly embarrassed that they had gotten distracted on their way to the pod. Hyunjin shuts the hologram down quickly, placing the console aside and pulling herself up. Heejin takes a little longer-- she’s not obliged to save her kidnapper after all. Stockholm

syndrome is a concept that has been gratefully left behind centuries ago.

 

(A/N: Not to be confused with Saturn syndrome, which is a disease that causes flu-like symptoms in Saturnites, but is lethal in Earthlings.)

 

“AARGHHHHH WHAT IS THAT? Are we not alone on this planet? RJ! RUN THE MATH!”

 

“INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS!”

 

The duo make it in time to witness the villain throwing a mug towards the canary. The robotic bird deftly dodges, of course, and continues yelling at the top of its lungs. 

 

The intruder in question, as they come to realise, had arrived in the form of a giant ship; the ones straight out of early twenty-first century movies, Jolly Roger and all. They’re suspended mid-air in the giant metal chamber Hyejoo usually uses to conduct her experiments. Must have been a defence mechanism triggered somewhere.

 

“Wow,” Heejin exclaims, clamping a hand over her mouth when she realises it’s a sensitive time to be making any sort of display of happiness. But still, this could be her way out. A long shot, sure, but still a shot nonetheless. “What the hell is that?”

 

She hears the smallest of gasps exit Hyunjin. 

 

“A pirate ship,” she says. The moment the statement leaves her mouth, the intruders open fire.

 

/

 

_ “Be careful, alright? I’ve already given you everything you need, but you still can’t attract attention to yourself.” _

 

 _“No more hiding,” Hyunjin says with a laugh. She holds the physical ID in her hand gingerly, reading the words off of it. Part of her still can’t believe it’s real-- can’t believe that she_ _is real, now, in the eyes of the law._

 

**_KIM HYUNJIN_ **

**_Silim, Old Seoul City, Earth_ **

**_15-November-2504_ **

 

_ “You can bring me to all the places you’ve talked about! Mars, Venus, New New York, Jurassic Planet, and oh my god, the Moon! We can go on adventures, explore the world! You can teach me to drive your flying car!” _

 

_ Her sister laughs along with her, taking her hand. “Sure thing. But I have to work on most days, so you stay out of trouble when you’re by yourself, got it?” _

 

_ “I can’t promise that,” Hyunjin says cheekily. Her sister pinches her arm playfully. Hyunjin easily squirms out of her grip. “Come on… Can we go already? Take me somewhere fun!” _

 

_ “Alright, alright. Must have been hard for you to live vicariously through me huh? There’s an old movie screening tonight. It’s about sea pirates, you know? When Earth still had seas... Sounds boring but, we’ll take it easy on your first time out. You can tell everyone there that you just moved back from another city.” _

 

_ Hyunjin nods rapidly, putting on her nicest outfit. It’s just a white graphic t-shirt and fresh pair of jeans, gifted to her by the older girl to wear on her first day of freedom. It may seem like nothing to everyone else, but it means the world to her.  _

 

_ Her heart pounds loudly in her chest, and it’s a feeling she thinks won’t go away anytime soon. Sure, she’s snuck out a few times. Sure, she knows how complicated the world outside is. Sure, she knows her existence puts both her and her sister in danger if and when they get found out. She also knows the lengths to which her sister gave her this freedom, the freedom her parents deprived from her when she was conceived.  _

 

_ None of that really stops her from leaving the house, tears in her eyes, with one hand holding her sister's, and a giant grin on her face _ .

 

/

 

They’ve stopped falling. Things fall back into place, and the heart-dropping feeling has finally gone away. Sooyoung lets out a grunt, having bumped her hip against the kitchen counter. Damn was she getting old.

 

“Where the fuck are we?” Vivi, now properly woken from her slumber (y’know, after free-falling a few hundred feet through the ground and everything), asks.

 

Automatically, Jiwoo’s blue eye whirls into action. “Underground… Some kind of metal chamber. Man-made, new, definitely illegal. Also-- funnily enough, because I see no way out of here-- probably our new home!” Jiwoo says it all in one breath. 

 

Sooyoung furrows her eyebrows, spotting a familiar looking logo on a particular metal tile in the chamber. “Interesting way of pronouncing ‘prison’, don’t you think?” 

 

A sigh. The blonde detective has caught on. “We’re right in Son Hyejoo’s trap,” Chaewon says simply. 

 

“We’re going to have to navigate this situation carefully. I don’t think she knows it’s us yet. It might be a defence mechanism that we triggered.”

 

A war cry breaks them out of their stupor. It’s followed by a series of unmistakable gunshots and bullets getting ricocheted off the metal walls. The ship's guns are drawn. Sooyoung sighs.

 

“HIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

 

“For God’s sake, HASEUL!” 

 

The bartender is dragged out of the cockpit by her friend. When did she even get there anyway?

 

“What were you even shooting at?!”

 

“I was thinking maybe we could puncture a hole and fly out…”

 

A pause. Chaewon uncharacteristically yells, “We’re UNDERGROUND!”

 

“Well, sue me! I’m not a detective like you guys!” The indignant protest causes a few facepalms. 

 

“Now what?” Sooyoung asks. It’s a rhetorical question more than anything else. She has nothing. “Robotface?”

 

Jiwoo seems obliged to answer, given how she’s been running calculations in her head the past few seconds. A million scenarios have literally crossed her mind. The best one: “Now we wait. Negotiate if we have to. Heejin is probably being held here. We pretend this was our plan all along.”

 

“Any better ideas than the cyborg’s?” Vivi asks mandatorily. No answer. “Great. I love waiting!” It’s a sentence that comes as a reply to Jiwoo without sarcasm, a rare occurrence, if the cyborg does say so herself.

 

Silence descends upon them momentarily.

 

“Um, there’s still some congee?” Jiwoo informs slowly.

 

All of them give her a pointed look. Jiwoo smiles awkwardly. Chaewon and Haseul shrug.

 

All four and a half pairs of human legs and one metal one shuffle towards the dining table. 

 

Now, they eat.

 

* * *

“Now what?” Hyunjin asks, throwing the last scraps of metal feathers down the chute. She misses the wince Heejin gives when the scratching of metal against metal makes a sharp grinding noise.

 

Since the robotic canary has finally calmed down (read: beaten to death by Hyunjin, on Hyejoo’s orders), they finally have some peace of mind to properly calculate their next move. It’s almost biblical that they literally have a pirate ship (and possibly pirates) imprisoned in their backyard; yet they have no ounce of a clue what to do with it. They watched the intruders open fire for a few seconds through the hologram, but since then, not much has happened. 

 

“Did your dad send this?” Hyejoo clearly directs the question to Heejin, but it’s not like Hyunjin would have answered it anyway.

 

“No, I’ve never seen that in my life. Besides, he already called the PBI on you, so there’s no need for… this,” Heejin swiftly replies, gesturing vaguely at the hologram. She still can’t make sense of it. 

 

“Maybe it just got lost,” Hyejoo remarks. And then, under her breath, with a little resignation: “Just like some of us.”

 

“They ran straight into our forcefield and triggered the trap. I doubt this was unplanned,” Hyunjin supplies. This gets Hyejoo into a contemplative daze. 

 

Heejin examines the hologram closely. “So this metal chamber I’m seeing is a trap?” 

 

“Yeah. It’s way higher than us though. Probably on the negative-hundredth floor, or something.”

 

The intercom interrupts their thoughts. “Calculations complete. Best course of action: wait.”

 

“Wait?” Heejin exclaims in shock. She wasn’t expecting that. Best case scenario was for Hyejoo to engage them, and for Heejin to take the opportunity to escape as a stowaway on their ship.

 

Hyunjin shrugs. “That’s what it said. Wait.”

 

So they wait. Hyejoo takes to the gaming room, and the pair are left to their own devices. Or really, Heejin is left to her own devices, and Hyunjin is just following her around, making sure she can’t escape. Not like Heejin is trying anyways. She’s still planning it out in her head. 

 

If she can’t make Hyunjin her ally, maybe she could make her a hostage? The girl looks her age; but definitely stronger, taller and bigger. Her hands are also well-worked-- a rare sight in this age of automation. So, no to that. Some might consider Hyunjin to be filthy, as evidenced by the muddy tracks her boots leave behind, but Heejin thinks of her with respect. A dreadfully loyal worker with a moral backbone a thousand times stronger than her supervillain boss’. She doesn’t understand why Hyunjin needs to work for her, to say the least; she’s not even enjoying it. And she’s not about to question why anyway. Hyunjin’s barely an ally at this point, let alone an acquaintance.

 

But she digresses. Back to the pressing issue at hand. 

 

An idea, just like the pirate ship did the planet, crashes clumsily into her mind.

 

Heejin bolts for the elevator, but a hand on her wrist stops her. It takes a little effort. Still, her slim wrist easy slips out of Hyunjin’s loose grip.

 

“Don’t-- HEY!” 

 

By the time Hyunjin can catch up to her, the elevator doors have closed, and Heejin is on her way up to the metal chamber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *chants* filler fiLLER FILLER


	3. jinsoul, and the tirelessness of the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yvesoul origin story. beware of angst

“Deputy Director, we’ve just sent the team for the mission. They’ll reach The Penthouse in approximately five hours.”

 

Jinsoul nods, a hand in her pocket while the other brings the cup of coffee to her lips. Staring out the window, she feels an odd sense of nauseating anxiety. Something’s wrong, but she doesn’t know what it is yet.

 

“Thank you, Agent Go. Update me again when they are about to infiltrate the complex.”

 

Agent Go nods, bowing slightly before turning towards her way out.

 

“Wait,” Jinsoul calls. “I need you to do something for me.”

 

 

* * *

 

_“Jung Jinsoul.”_

 

_She spins around, the dark obscuring most of her vision. Still, there’s no one in her ten-metre radius. That she can clearly see. There’s a clenching in her heart as the hairs on her arm start to stand-_

 

_“Up here!”_

 

_The hushed voice calls again. This time, Jinsoul whips her head up. The whisper had been masking the true voice of its owner, whom Jinsoul is now narrowing her eyes at in disbelief. Ha Sooyoung; hard-ass, winner of Best Recruit without even trying, her sparring buddy and the most unfortunate of all-- her current hyperfixation. But don’t get her wrong. Sooyoung’s not a crush, as Jinsoul would tell you herself. In fact, the opposite of an infatuation. Jinsoul, with every fibre of her body, hates just how she can already tell that Sooyoung will become a brilliant policewomen in the future. That makes her a rival, and as her parents have told her, rivals are competition she needs to destroy if she wants to get to the top._

 

_But yet here Sooyoung is, donning her Best Recruit smirk and “only person to successfully hit thirty out of thirty targets during marksman training” attitude, on a tree in the middle of the night. The most compromising Jinsoul has ever found her. She tries not to let her confusion fully slip into mockery. Half-squatting on a thick tree branch, Sooyoung squints her eyes ar her. Jinsoul’s blank stare back at her causes her laid back expression to look slightly more forced than usual._

 

_“You’re on a tree,” Jinsoul points out the obvious. To be frank, she’s not sure what else there is to say. “Why are you on a tree?”_

 

_“Can you help get me down first? I’ve been here a while…”_

 

_Jinsoul crosses her arms. “Doing what, exactly? Also, give me one good reason for me to not report you for sneaking out after lights out.”_

 

_“Um, maybe if you reported me I’ll report you for doing the same?”_

 

_“I’m literally on patrol,” Jinsoul replies, pointing to the laser gun in her belt holster._

 

_“So?”_

 

_“So, you’re insufferable,” Jinsoul says with as much gusto as she can muster in front of her face, before turning to leave. A small smile creeps her way up her face when she hears the panicked cries of “Wait!”._

 

_“I’ll give you something! What do you need?”_

 

_Jinsoul pretends to ponder. And then: “I’m good, thanks.”_

 

_Before she can walk away though, Sooyoung calls urgently for her again._

 

_“Jung Jinsoul! I’ll polish your boots!”_

 

_“I don’t need them hand-polished!”_

 

_“Uhhhhhhhh a new towel! Everybody loves a new towel…”_

 

_Jinsoul turns back, halting her steps. She raises her eyebrows at how desperate Sooyoung looks. “No thanks.”_

 

_“Something from my antique collection.”_

 

_“What? No way.”_

 

_“Why?! There’s good stuff in there, literally nobody knows how to appreciate these things.” Jinsoul rolls her eyes and moves to leave, and so she shouts, “I’ll do your homework for you?”_

 

_“I don’t need you, I can do them myself. Try again. Come on, I’m sure you can offer me something I can’t refuse.” Sarcasm drips from her voice. She waits. Sooyoung has nothing. “Just like I thought.”_

 

_“Training. I’ll give you marksman training.”_

 

_Oh god. Jinsoul played herself. It’s just distasteful, how her dreadful score of fifteen out of thirty targets immediately comes to mind, and she just knows Sooyoung has actually made an offer she cannot turn down. What can she say? It’s her fault for squandering her two whole years of wielding the gun and still being as novice at it as when she first started._

 

_With a groan, she helps the girl down, catching her when she stumbles but immediately shoving her off. Sooyoung laughs everything off, like she always does, and Jinsoul just finds it annoying._

 

_(But ask her again what she thinks of Sooyoung in two weeks. Maybe she’d change her mind.)_

 

* * *

 

“HEAT SIGNATURES!”

 

Sooyoung drops the spoonful of congee in shock. Some of it splatters onto her white shirt, falling slightly into her lap. “Jiwoo!”

 

Unbothered, Jiwoo repeatedly taps Sooyoung on the shoulder, while looking far into the distance. Sooyoung can’t help the old sentiment that arises. _It was as if technology existed to annoy the fuck out of her._ “I’M PICKING UP HEAT SIGNATURES!”

 

Someone groans. Sooyoung grunts as well. The cyborg-enthusiasm is getting hard to keep up with.

 

“JEON HEEJIN! IT’S HER!”

 

Well, not anymore. All four humans immediately perk up, sitting towards the edge of their seats. Jiwoo rushes by the window to take a better look and-- lo and behold-- there she was: teen royalty, covered in dust and grime, still looking like someone who belonged on the 1982nd floor of New Incheon.

 

“Expensive,” Chaewon comments, staring down at the girl who’s looking mightily confused after stepping out the elevator. She reaches the edge of the ledge; one more step and she’ll be falling down three hundred storeys down, back to square one. Vivi hums back in agreement, nodding as Heejin steps back warily, “She could be covered in mud and still look like royalty.”

 

“I think _you_ could be covered in mud and still look like royalty,” Haseul says suggestively, sliding her way to Vivi’s side.

 

“Smooth,” Sooyoung remarks with as much disgust she can muster, just as Haseul shoots her a dirty look before leaning to kiss Vivi on the cheek. The grimace comes as a response to the laughter Vivi provides.

 

Heejin is still looking like she’s at a loss for words.

 

“Uh, so what do we do now?” Chaewon asks.

 

“Well for starters, we’re supposed to be saving her!” Jiwoo reminds them, already pushing her way out of the door.

 

They are quick to follow behind her, and quick to halt in their tracks, just as Jiwoo did.

 

“Looks like someone is going to beat us to it,” Haseul comments, the trepidation in her voice suddenly increasing tenfold. Sooyoung takes a furtive look at what she’s looking at and-- oh. Oh no.

 

* * *

 

Agent Go stumbles into the office, panting a little at the effort. Running here hadn’t been easy. And no matter how many times the Deputy Director insists that it’s okay if she takes her time to walk over after completing her duties, Agent Go would never heed her advice.

 

Which is a familiar feeling, if Jinsoul says so herself. Sooyoung’s antics have made her numb to the most mundane of tasks, and the most basic of expectations from her agents. Common sense things like not turning up to work tipsy, which she-who-has-been-named has done on the daily for at least the last year.

 

Agent Go impresses her. Perhaps a little more than she should.

 

“You managed to trace the signal?”

 

“It was getting weaker but yes, I did,” the agent replies. A beat passes before she worriedly adds, “Deputy Director, are you sure we shouldn’t pursue them? They’re breaking their suspension rules and it’s highly danger--”

 

“Where is she? And you said ‘they’?”

 

“Lost World. It seems like she’s not alone. I hacked her phone and heard the voices of the three other suspended detectives and one other that our systems recognised as belonging to a Jo Haseul."

 

Jiwoo, Chaewon, Vivi and that damn bartender that Sooyoung has been paying the bills for the past six years. Still, Jinsoul breathes a little easier knowing Sooyoung isn’t as reckless as to chase after Son Hyejoo alone.

 

“Thank you, Agent Go, for everything you’ve done. Remember what we agreed to.”

 

“But Deputy Director, Senior Agent Ha and--”

 

Jinsoul turns away from the window to meet her eyes. The message is clear. First rule of working under Jung Jinsoul: don’t interfere in any business regarding Ha Sooyoung.

 

The junior agent blinks, taking a step back. “No questions asked. Don’t speak to anyone about this. I got it.”

 

Agent Go scurries away, leaving Jinsoul alone to ponder about the pathetic remnants of her broken marriage.

 

She should call.

 

The phone in her hand feels heavy as she punches in the memorised numbers. She stares at it, before backtracking and punching in another one.

 

“Agent Chou, how’s the stakeout going?”

 

_“No trace of Son Hyejoo, Ma’am. This might have been a false lead, I suggest we regroup--”_

 

“Stay there. Find her parked ship. It’s probably invisible.”

 

_“We will. Deputy Director--”_

 

“Tzuyu, please.” She’s not in the mood for conversation.

 

_“Jinsoul. You’re a little on edge, aren’t you? Sooyoung doesn’t have to be on the case for us to close it, you know? Give yourself a break. We got this.”_

 

“I sure hope so.”

 

_“We got this, Jinsoul. We’ll find the ship. Don’t worry.”_

 

They do, in fact, find the ship. Except it’s been completely rid of anything-- furniture, screens, weapons, information, you name it. Everything seemingly vanished, save for a single piece of graffiti left in the glass window of the cockpit.

 

A series of lines and dots-- Morse code-- that translate to ‘E12’.

 

To the outsider, it’s not a reason for the Deputy Director to escape headquarters in a PBI ship, but that’s what Jinsoul does anyways.

 

* * *

 

_She fires her last shot. Having lost her focus, the recoil causes her to stumble backward a little, right into Sooyoung’s chest._

 

_“Steady.” Two hands hold her by her sides._

 

_Jinsoul rolls her eyes, shoving Sooyoung away, brushing non-existent dust off her bulletproof shirt. “Twenty-five out of thirty.”_

 

_“Not bad for someone who couldn’t hit more than fifty percent two months ago.”_

 

_Sure Jinsoul’s proud of herself. The blossoming pride in her chest is quickly dismissed however, when she remembers the blonde-haired recruit a few lanes away who’d been hitting thirty bull’s eyes per clip._

 

_“Who’s that? Did you see her hit all that shots?”_

 

_“Kim Jungahn? Jungie? No idea. She’s no one in particular anyway,” Sooyoung replies. “Also no, Cadet Jung, I was busy watching you.”_

 

_Jinsoul can’t help the smile that reciprocates Sooyoung’s, and feels that maybe, just maybe, she’s starting to realise what Sooyoung means to her. Because “friend” and “fellow comrade” are all monikers that just don’t cut it. Not even “best friends” is quite it, because Jinsoul knows no sort of purely platonic relationship involves one-to-one marksman tutoring that sometimes codes for “making out in the locker room after everyone is gone”._

 

_She’ll settle with “friends with benefits” for now. Rest assured she’ll change that soon enough to “girlfriend”._

 

_(It doesn’t happen easily. Jinsoul cries to her parents one night, distraught at how badly her rejection had went. Sooyoung liked ‘easy’. She wasn’t ready for commitment. Not in the way Jinsoul wanted her to be. Her father tells her not to worry; Sooyoung will come around._

 

_It takes Sooyoung three weeks to ‘come around’, and another three months for Jinsoul to find out what her father had done.)_

 

* * *

 

The elevator takes three minutes or so for a typically three second ride, bringing Hyunjin to where she was sure Heejin currently is. The girl had pressed the button to every single level possible, which means Hyunjin had witnessed the elevator doors opening and closing at least two hundred times. Thankfully, speed is a useful trait the automatons have been built with, and the agonisingly slow ride takes only the total of one song from the downloaded list of bad elevator music.

 

Ding! And there she is. How easy. Hyunjin grabs her hand, but gets no response. She yanks her slightly backwards, but when she cannot even elicit a flinch from Heejin, she finally catches on to what was happening.

 

Heejin is staring straight at the pirates on the ship deck. The pirates are glancing back and forth between Heejin and this other unnamed flying device. Hyunjin spares a glance at it, and chokes. It’s Hyejoo’s pod, being manoeuvred by Hyejoo herself. Guns are raised (from Hyejoo’s side), as are hands (from the pirates).

 

A single claw reaches out to capture the girl before anyone can escalate or de-escalate the situation, Heejin is pulled into Hyejoo’s pod, and a hole opens in the ceiling where the supervillain clumsily makes her escape.

 

* * *

 

Capturing the supervillain side-kick was easier than expected. Hyunjin strolls into their ship easily, the only feature on her face giving away any emotion being her eyelids which twitch ever so slightly at Sooyoung’s suggestion that they leave her on Lost World.

 

“Please don’t leave me here,” she pleads. Hyunjin even raises her hands in surrender, though no truly life-threatening weapons (other than Jiwoo’s very threatening outstretched robotic hand) are being pointed at her.

 

Sooyoung crosses her arms. “You were complicit with the greatest intergalactic criminal mastermind of our century. Tell us why we shouldn’t just turn you in to the police right now.”

 

“Fuck you,” is what she wants to say. The words are at the tip of her tongue. Hyunjin’s about to spit them out when she gets cut off abruptly by a metallic wheeze.

 

"You," Jiwoo gasps. Everyone and their mothers can see the gears in her infinite mind turning. "You have a sister."

  
  
Silence dawns upon them. Hyunjin seems both terrified and startled that she'd just stolen everyone's attention with a fact she's known her whole life. She doesn't blame them.

  
  
"The one-child policy," Chaewon states the obvious, earning a nudge from Vivi. She's just asking the questions everybody is dying to let out. "How did you survive?"

 

(A/N: Having solved global warming and climate change in 2030, and once again in 2343, scientists worldwide took a backseat, letting the non-STEM majors restore glory to the liberal arts and humanities for once. However, in their absence, overpopulation became the next greatest worldwide disaster. As a desperate measure, an international no-child policy was called for by 2357. Due to great public backlash from activists calling it unconstitutional, the United Nations decided to denounce the law, cementing a one-child policy instead. Overpopulation of humans wiped out millions of edible plants and animal species, and paved the way for the advent of food pills.)

  
“Hole in the ground.” Hyunjin's eyes widen when she’s realised what she’s done. "Wait I'm not telling you shit! You guys are cops!"

  
  
"I'm not," Haseul quips. Nobody laughs. "Okay... Just a bartender trying to lighten the mood..."

  
  
Chaewon’s eyes narrow. "Wait, how did you know we were cops? We didn’t tell you anything…”

 

Stunned by the question, Hyunjin lets her mouth hang open. She sneaks a glance at Sooyoung, just to be sure. The woman is looking right back at her with a calm expression on her face. It’s her alright. Hyunjin points at her. “I recognised her.”

 

“From where?”

 

Hyunjin looks between all of them, still suspicious. “Your sister’s police academy pictures,” Jiwoo answers for her. “You had a sister in the PBI.”

 

“Huh, that’s not the only pictures I have of her but--”

 

“Wait,” Sooyoung gasps, “I knew your sister? What’s your name, kid? Though I could have forgotten the people in my class…”

 

“You would never have forgotten her, Agent Ha. She wouldn’t have allowed you to. Yerim too,” Hyunjin flashes a bitter smile. Sooyoung’s face falls at the mention of the jeep, as she puts the pieces of the puzzle together.

 

The team look at the pair, who are exchanging an intense look. Nobody know what’s going on, apart from Jiwoo and them both. Hyunjin only laughs grimly, putting down her raised hands.

 

Hyunjin may have Jungeun’s eyes, but not the same softness in her gaze as the older girl. Time didn’t aged them, experiences did. And boy, has Hyunjin been through hell and back. Her expression tells Sooyoung everything she needs to know. More importantly, it signalled to her that they were similar in many ways. From what they were seeking, to what caused them pain; it all began and ended with Jungeun.

 

Sooyoung feels like crying when she says it, relief and surprise pouring out all at once. “You’re Jungeun’s sister.”

 

She half-expects a grim nod. Maybe a sad smile. Hyunjin surprises her once again, a snarl replacing the formerly shown neutrality.

 

“And you’re the one who killed her.”

 

* * *

 

“Set the course for Planet E12. Jiwoo says that Son Hyejoo’s pod is heading that way.”

 

“What’s Planet E12?” Haseul asks curiously.

 

“Unregistered and deserted dwarf planet. No life forms whatsoever. Nobody knows of its existence. Except Jiwoo.”

 

“Jiwoo... How is she?”

 

“Could be better. According to her she’s only at 25% functionality. You wanna check on her? You know, as the _captain_ of our ship and everything.” The smirk is reciprocated immediately.

 

Receiving the message and a kiss from Vivi, Haseul keys in the necessary coordinates before putting her ship on autopilot.  

 

Jiwoo rests alone in the corner, sullen. It’s the most down anyone has seen her. Usually she would be wandering around the ship doing or making something with typical cyborg enthusiasm. Or bugging Sooyoung with random questions. Now, she’s just sitting on a bean bag facing a closed door. The cyborg is as useful as perhaps, the Slap O’Clock 2000.

 

Haseul sets herself down beside her, determined to cheer her up and find out what’s wrong. All the bartending has made her a nosy person, anyway. “See anything in there?”

 

“No. I don’t have x-ray vision but I can tell they’re not physically engaged from their heat signatures.” Her eyes twitch a little, and she pokes a finger into her right ear, wincing like something too loud is playing in her ear. _25% functionality_. “They’re just… talking. I can’t hear what about, though.”

 

“One hell of a talk that must be. I didn’t know Jungeun had a sister. Sooyoung mustn't have either.”

 

“Jungeun hid her really well. Probably built that hole in the ground herself. Their parents abandoned them once Hyunjin was born, you know? Fricking…No, Fuh…. F-Fucking alcoholics who couldn’t even take care of themselves.”

 

(A/N: Cyborgs try not to curse as part of a built-in moral code. Only extreme feelings of anger or sadness can trigger an override of said code.)

 

Jiwoo never turns her head away from the door even as Haseul nods in agreement.

 

“Did you know her? Jungeun?”

 

Haseul chuckles softly. “Sooyoung’s mentioned her a lot, but I’ve never met her. Only when she gets to that perfect level of drunkenness where she’s too intoxicated to control any ramblings about her _lovely_ partner detective, but not drunk enough to be sleeping on my counter. It’s always about how amazing of a person Jungeun is. Or how pretty she is. Makes me sad I never got to know her.”

 

If Haseul had a drink in her hand, this would be when she’ll take a long swig from it.

 

“You must know what happened to her.”

 

And here, another swig. Her heart clenches for the person she’s never even gotten to meet, save for the pictures she’d seen which Sooyoung kept in her wallet.

 

“They thought they were chasing Son Hyejoo, but it was a dummy ship all along. She comes up from behind them and shoots down their ship. That’s all I’ve pieced together over the years. Not the details-- but the gist, yes.”

 

“Well, that’s all the PBI let her know,” Jiwoo leans her head back to rest against the bean bag. She sinks a little more into it, her shoulders closing in and causing her metal collarbone to creak noisily. “Sooyoung doesn’t know yet, but she’ll recognise the planet when we get close enough.”

 

“And why’s that?” Haseul quirks an eyebrow at Jiwoo’s pained expression, as if she’s burdened by the knowledge she has. All the case files and private information in the world without even asking for it. She must get tired of it, at some point. Anyone would be.

 

Her point is proven after a solemn glance from the cyborg. Jiwoo's single blue eye whirls, and Haseul feels her stomach churn. 

 

“Because we’re headed right for the accident site. Planet E12 is where she lost the love of her life.”

 

* * *

 

Leaving Earth’s orbit and inadvertently plunging herself into an asteroid belt wasn’t pleasant, but it still beats seeing ‘E12’ written in Morse all over Son Hyejoo’s ship.

 

Not for the first time, Jinsoul slams a fist on the dashboard so hard that the entire cockpit shakes a little.

 

The last time she had been there, she’d found her wife and co-worker bloodied and unconscious. Beneath all that wreckage, they were both barely breathing.

 

It was obvious Jungeun had it way worse, though.

 

Jinsoul can’t help the clench of her heart at the mention of her name.

 

It’s been six years, and that day replays in her mind almost daily. She hopes she did the right thing.

 

It’ll be worth it. For Sooyoung, it will be worth it.

 

* * *

 

_“What did you do this time?”_

 

_“Jinsoul, sweetie, calm down. We just gave you what you wanted.”_

 

_“I thought I told you not to do that ever again!”_

 

_“We just had a friendly chat with Sooyoung is all.” At the unconvinced, betrayed look on Jinsoul’s face, her mother adds, “We know about the ring you bought last month. You love her so much and we know that, honey. There’s nothing wrong with that.”_

 

_“Why must you stick your nose into every single--”_

 

_“She is the second best detective in the whole PBI. And I heard from Janghoon that you’re going to be more than just a detective soon, so I guess she is going to be the best one. We’re very proud of you, you know? And we want the best for you.”_

 

_“And if that meant blackmailing Sooyoung into getting back with me?”_

 

_“Then so be it. Someone of your calibre needs to be with someone of hers.”_

 

_Her laugh is as emotionless as it gets. “You really did it. I held out some hope that she truly wanted to get back with me. I guess I was wrong.” She pauses, the words stuck in her throat momentarily. Choking back tears, she continues, “You’re both fucking monsters.”_

 

_“Only when it comes to you. It’s what you have to be for the ones you love. You’ll understand in the future.”_

 

_Jinsoul shakes her head, wiping the falling tears. “And you expect me to just… just sit by and watch? Ask her to marry me regardless and rejoice when she says yes against her wishes?”_

 

_Her father rests both his arms on his armchair, closing his eyes as he leans back into it. “We don’t expect you to do anything, Jinsoul. The choice is still up to you.”_

 

_“Here,” her mother chirps, “You might be looking for this.”_

 

_The velvet box, and the ring still perfectly lodged in it. Her mother must have ordered someone to pick it out from the PBI trash collection center. They exchange a look, expectant eyes meeting confused, guilty ones._

 

_Jinsoul sobs, reaching for it and pocketing it anyway._

 

_Sooyoung is now hers, but at the cost of her conscience. Will it really be worth it?_

 

_(Months later, when the girl says ‘yes’ to her with a smile and still kisses her like she used to, Jinsoul decides that she can live with herself.)_

 

* * *

 

“Course set for: SECRET HIDEOUT.”

 

Heejin stares at the red words blinking on every possible screen within the confines of the pod, flinching when the built-in AI reads it aloud. The pod resembles her cell in size, yet reminds her more of Hyunjin than anything else. The automated voices were starting to annoy her a little more every minute.

 

She unconsciously mimics the subtle eye-roll Hyunjin does every time the voice plays. Hyejoo doesn’t even flinch, which is both a testament to her ability to concentrate on the task at hand (see: playing “Super Smash Bros” on an ancient gaming console) and her indifference to automation probably stemming from having been constantly surrounded by it.

 

Hyejoo reminds her of the terrible father she has. Always engaged in something else, or something useless, but never her. It’s a big reason for her getting captured, really. Her father was too busy planning the renovation of parts of their penthouse to realise that she was screaming for help. The drawbacks of having a huge house and a filthy rich father, she reckons.

 

Not that she ended up minding it too much. Home felt as much like a prison as her cell back on Lost World did, and spending time with the mild-mannered Hyunjin was the most fun she’d had, ever. She really had a terrible father and no one else-- not even a damn housekeeper-- to spend quality time with.

 

But now, even Hyunjin had to be pried away from her (though in technicality, she was pried away from Hyunjin kicking and screaming). Hyejoo couldn’t care less what she was doing, even as her kidnapper. As much as she preferred the lack of attention from the greatest supervillain in the galaxy, some talking would be nice.

 

Her unbound hands and ungagged mouth were starting to bother her. The questions were piling up and have been since she was captured. The cell was, as Hyejoo admitted, purely out of formality, so it wasn’t like she was torturing Heejin out of fun. Her father wasn’t asked for money either, so this wasn’t a typical “kidnap the princess and get money” kind of situation.

 

Why the hell was Hyejoo even taking her hostage?

 

Her spiralling thoughts get put into control for a moment when the reddish brown speck in the distance has grew into the size of a planet. She finds it strange that E12 takes her breath away as someone who’s been to “Paradise in the Milky Way”. (A/N: You’ll know it better as Uranus, but colonised and modified by humans. No pun intended.)

 

A dust cloud gathers around them as Hyejoo finally pulls herself away from the game to stick a violent landing on a random part of the planet. Or so she thought, until Hyejoo brushes some red dirt of soil consistency off a manhole in the ground, lifting the cover and pressing a button in it.

 

A building rises through the ground à la Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, causing an already stunned Heejin to stumble backwards and eventually fall to the ground. Even with all the modern technology around her, this doesn’t seem real.

 

(A/N: Heejin has seen all episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, a result of being the child of a negligent father who found no better babysitter than classic, retro Disney. Except, her dad got much of Disney’s legacy wrong, subjecting her to reruns of the TV show all the way into her early teenage years.)

 

“Come on,” Hyejoo tells her, already making her way through the automatic glass doors. They shut before Heejin gets the chance to pick herself up, and she contemplates running off in the ship they’ve just left behind. As if reading her mind, Hyejoo pokes her head out the door, deadpanning, “Don’t even try. The ship only responds to me. Now come on, we have to get you ready for the big reveal.”

 

Heejin clambers in, feeling extremely exposed under the harsh white light of the vast, white room. “What big reveal?”

 

“The one where…” Hyejoo pauses (not for dramatic effect but because she lost her train of thought trying to get a cleaning robot off her shin) before continuing, “...I tell everyone that I’m not the biggest intergalactic supervillain they are looking for.”

 

Taken aback, Heejin yells, “You’re kidding. You kidnapped me! The weapons stash! The Grand Budapest Heist of 2528? And the Bank of Mars robbery?! You run a whole syndicate called The Big Bad. How are you not--”

 

“Do I look like I run a whole syndicate?”

 

“Huh? I mean, well, yes but I’ve only ever seen Hyunjin…”

 

“That’s because I don’t have a syndicate. She’s my only employee. Which is great, for her. All the medical benefits and annual paid leaves. She never takes them. Absolutely annoys me.”

 

She’s confused. “So you don’t run The Big Bad.”

 

“Yeah, because The Big Bad doesn’t exist.”

 

“I’m confused.”

 

“How do I put this… The Big Bad is more of a… state of mind. We pass the mantle and the microchip in our head to a worthy successor. It’s been going on for centuries. I’m the only Bad that has managed to do anything substantial in the crime world. We’ve been mafia bosses, drug lords, gangsters, spies, conglomerate CEOs, world leaders. At one point, Pluto’s president was The Big Bad. But he was too kind to reach his full form. Decided to use his time to rebuild Pluto instead. Devastating. Anyways, the moral of the story is: I haven’t been The Big Bad for the last six years.”

 

“I don’t get it. You’re telling me that you haven’t committed any of the biggest crimes in the past six years?”

 

Hyejoo, who’s been tinkering with the buttons on what looks like a control panel for the entirety of the conversation, finally turns to look Heejin in the eyes. “Except kidnapping you, no. Those weren’t me.”

 

“What the heck have you and Hyunjin been doing all this time?”

 

“Following orders. There’s a new Big Bad in town, in case you weren’t listening. But kidnapping you wasn’t an order. It’s part of a massive plan I have.”

 

“Massive plan? What plan--”

 

“I am going to destroy The Big Bad for good. And you, my dear, are going to help me. No words for the next fifteen minutes. I need your help ensuring the detectives don’t die on their descent into E12. It’s quite a rocky landing, you see. I designed the stratosphere to kill anyone who knowingly or unknowingly came too close. I’m the only one who can navigate it, and even then I’m not the best at it.”

 

“I could tell,” Heejin quips.

 

“No words, Jeon.”

 

Heejin keeps her mouth shut, letting her mind run wild with all the information she’s just been given. The former supervillain guides her hand to a lever.

 

“Pull it when I tell you to.”

 

The pirate ship suddenly becomes visible in the distance. She frantically nods.

 

Never a good time to save some detectives’ lives than the present, right?

 

Right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> will proofread in a few hours!! a lot goes on in this chapter, so do feel free to ask any questions here or on twitter :) there's a curious cat link somewhere, i think...


	4. hyejoo, and the redemption of a supervillain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chaos chaos chaos!

“So uh, how have you been?”

 

Getting a glare in response, Sooyoung nervously tries again. “I’m kind of surprised. Jungeun never told me she had a sister. Are you… are you doing okay?”

 

“I work for an intergalactic supervillain. How do you think I’m doing?” Hyunjin snaps. 

 

“I’m sorry I never reached out. It’s just… Jungeun never--”

 

“Don’t,” Hyunjin warns, standing up. “Don’t you  _ dare _ say her name.”

 

( _ "Don't you dare speak her name. You don't deserve that, or even to be my partner, so please save yourself the embarrassment and go." _ )

 

Well, isn’t that just divine retribution.

 

“You hate me.”

 

“Glad you could tell, Agent Ha.”

 

“I didn’t-- I loved your sister, you know? I loved her. I would never have hurt her.”

 

“What’s the point of you saying all that? She’s dead. And she’s dead because of you. Because your stubborn ass couldn’t stand not piloting the ship yourself. How fucking ridiculous is that?”

 

Sooyoung blinks hard. 

 

“I hacked the records on the crash. It says there clearly, all in black and white that you were the one piloting her to her death. You killed my sister!”

 

She lets Hyunjin glare at her, chest heaving, as she processes what she’d just said. Her own memories are fuzzy, but there’s one thing she knows for sure. 

 

“Jungeun was driving that day. It wasn’t… me.”

 

“Do you have  no shame? Framing the dead when you know she can’t speak for herself? You’re a fucking disgrace, a murderer--”

 

“Your sister loved Yerim. She would never have let anyone pilot her. I got to only on occasion.”

 

“That’s not… I read the files and I, I  _ swear… _ Hyejoo… she said it was you.”

 

“Hyejoo shot down our ship,” Sooyoung explains earnestly, stepping closer. Hyunjin takes a step back. Clearly distraught, she clutches her head with both hands, pacing around. Sooyoung feels her own heart constrict. 

 

“I promise you, Hyunjin,” Sooyoung pleads, “it was all Hyejoo.”

 

“She killed my sister and then recruited me to work for her,” Hyunjin exasperatedly explains her anger, breaking into sobs. “She promised me revenge on you. Hyejoo… She…”

 

Sooyoung takes another step forward, a comforting hand placed on Hyunjin’s shoulder. The latter doesn’t move back.

 

“She’s.. fuck!  _ Fuck! _ She’s sick in the fucking head!”

 

_ That’s just what supervillains do, _ Sooyoung thinks, pulling Hyunjin into a tight, tight hug. 

 

Vivi bursts through the door just as Hyunjin starts to quieten down.

 

“So you guys have made up. Perfect timing. We’re almost here. Just… prepare yourselves before you look at the window, okay?”

 

“Why would I need to…” 

 

Sooyoung’s voice trails off, taking in the sight that is E12. The smooth reddish brown earth and the dusty atmosphere bring a chill down her spine. It’s the set of the recurring nightmare that has kept her from getting a restful night in six years. The taste of blood, of copper, in her mouth. The smoke filling her lungs. The crippling fear when she sees nothing but her lifeless partner, and then black. Fire, everywhere. 

 

“Is this...?” Hyunjin’s question hangs in the air. Vivi grimly nods, the sight of tears running down Sooyoung’s face bringing tears to her own eyes. “Oh.”

 

Vivi holds them both in her arms, until the captain calls for them to be buckled up and safely seated for landing.

 

* * *

_ “Boss, boss, boss!” _

 

_ The loud pitter-patter of footsteps draws Hyejoo out of her daze. She swivels her chair around to greet her sidekick. The stars outside the window were getting boring to look at anyway. _

 

_ “The Bombzookanator Supersonic Megatron 3000 is ready. Detonates via remote, fifty-meter radius working range, melts everything in its way. Swift as the wind, silent as the forest.” _

 

_ Hyejoo nods, impressed. “We can use it for our next heist. Can you come up with a better name for it?” _

 

_ “No. Anyways,” Yeojin leans forward to emphasise, “I figured it out.” _

 

_ She smiles unknowingly seeing just how excited Yeojin looks. There’s a glint in her eyes. Realising that Yeojin was probably up to no good, her smile falters.  _

 

_ “What did you figure out?” _

 

_ “Oooh, you’re nervous… The grey’s flickering. Don’t worry, all I figured out was how to upload my voice into the system. Now every speaker, every automaton, every single piece of equipment you use is going to sound exactly like me.” _

 

_ She was right.  _

 

_ Hyejoo feels her right eye (the grey one), twitching. “You’re kidding.” _

 

_ Yeojin crosses her arms, smirking. Her small stature does nothing to justify how big of an attitude she has.  _

 

_ “Hah, CJ!” She calls. The bird squawks from the hallway, flying in.  _

 

_ “Yes, boss? Yes, boss? Yes, boss? Yes, boss?” _

 

_ It’s Yeojin’s voice alright. Hyejoo sighs deeply, sinking more into her chair. Letting out a childish scream, she lets Yeojin get a five-second head start before she too takes off, chasing the girl through the hallways of their headquarters.  _

 

_ Their giggles, mixed with Yeojin’s voice reverberating from the speakers, make for a memory the supervillain keeps dear to her heart.  _

 

* * *

“Pull it!”

 

Heejin pulls the lever with as much effort she can muster. Her stomach grumbles, getting a raised eyebrow from Hyejoo in return.

 

“I’m hungry…” She says in defense, finally getting the lever to budge. Hyejoo presses some buttons here and there, and…

 

“Voila.” 

 

Red flashing lights come on, along with a hoarse voice alerting: “INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS!”

 

If Hyejoo seems to frown a little at the weirdly realistic voice blaring from the control panel, Heejin doesn’t notice. How she bangs her fist down hard on the button to shut it down though, Heejin definitely notices.

 

Meanwhile, the pirate ship in the distance has grown in size. Heejin can even hear the humming coming directly from the ship.

 

But instead of the rocky ride through the stratosphere (that consisted of a lot of swerving and turbulence) Hyejoo managed, the pirate ship gets a light cruise down to the surface of E12. Like a magnet falling through a copper pipe; slow and effortless.

 

(A/N: Lenz's Law.)

 

Heejin realises belatedly that she has just participated in altering the gravitational and magnetic field of an entire planet. Hyejoo, full of surprises, surprises her again when she retrieves a menacing foot-long gun out of a secret compartment in the wall. 

 

“Don’t worry,” Hyejoo answers coolly just one of the billions of questions Heejin has running through her mind, “I’m not planning to use this on any of them.”

 

Throwing the strap of the gun around her head and wearing it on her back, Hyejoo trudges back out into the settling dust cloud, with Heejin clumsily stalking behind her. 

 

* * *

_ “Yeojin! Yeojin, get out of there, they’re going to fire at you!” _

 

_ “Let them shoot, boss! Or you could, you know, shoot back at them.” _

 

_ “Are you out of your fucking mind? You’re way too close, it’s going to hit you!” Yeojin, seemingly deaf to every word out of the the supervillain’s mouth, swerves up and away from E12, back into open space. “Get back to base right now!” _

 

_ “And what, let them destroy all that we have? No way!” _

 

_ “YEOJIN! I am NOT letting you--” _

 

_ “I won’t let stupid PBI agents find us out, boss. Everything we’ve built, everything we’ve achieved, it’s all going to be gone once they step foot on E12. I’ll just lead them away, make them crash and burn. I know what I’m doing, trust me.” _

 

_ Yeojin is flying the old pod. The one that isn’t equipped with weapons. She was just out there for joyride. She wasn’t supposed to be involved in a chase-down with the law.  _

 

_ The tailgating jeep/spaceship stalks Yeojin’s every manoeuvre of the pod, not letting up. _

 

_ As the pod leads the ship to disappear more and more into the distance, Hyejoo grows worried. Yeojin rambles on and on, the static making her plans and thoughts incoherent to the supervillain back at base. _

 

_ “Command received. Increasing strength of g-field,” the built-in AI suddenly announces, removing Hyejoo from her worried daze.  _

 

_ “Yeojin, what the hell did you do?” _

 

_ Codes write themselves into the control system, numbers running across the screen faster than the microchip in her head can help her process. Hyejoo watches the screens in panic, trying her hardest to override Yeojin’s instructions.  _

 

_ Her hands fly across the control panel, but it’s too late. All the screens go blank, with “MANUAL CONFIRMATION REQUIRED: PULL LEVER TO PROCEED” flashing in bright red. _

 

_ “Pull the lever!” She hears through the speakers. Even with all the AIs speaking in her voice, she knows this is her sidekick calling out to her. “Boss, I know you can hear me. I need you to pull the lever. I can fly myself out before the enhanced gravity pulls me down!” _

 

_ “The risk is too high, Yeojin! Please, please just--” _

 

_ “Just what, fly around with them? I’m running on an empty tank, boss, I won’t be able to tire them out. It’s either this or it’s over for us. Over for The Big Bad.” _

 

_ She’s right.  _

 

_ She stares into her reflection on the black screens, watching the greyish glow in her eye flicker back at her. _

 

_ Between being arrested and losing Yeojin, Hyejoo will always choose to be arrested if it means Yeojin will live. _

 

_ But the microchip in her head will always choose what’s best for The Big Bad.  _

 

_ And in a way, Yeojin is kind of like the microchip in her head. A presence that both terrifies and comforts her. A companion fiercely loyal to the interests of The Big Bad. A voice Hyejoo simply cannot ignore.  _

 

_ The static clears. _

 

_ Yeojin’s voice melds with the one in her head. _

 

_ “Just pull the damn lever!”  _

 

_ She shuts her eyes with a prayer, closes her palm around the handle, and just pulls. _

 

* * *

The squad alights the ship with much confusion. For one, the landing was too smooth-- Haseul describes it like they weren’t landing the ship themselves. What doesn’t help is the sight-- or rather, the people-- that greets them: Son Hyejoo with both hands up in surrender and Jeon Heejin looking too little like a kidnapped victim.

 

“We finally meet again, Detective.”

 

“ _ Don’t _ ,” warns the detective in question, holding Hyunjin back with a hand around her wrist. Examining the duo and trying to figure out the (ex-)supervillain’s intentions prove tough, though. Sooyoung doesn’t even know how to greet her, for starters.

 

Hyejoo reaches into a pocket in her jacket. At the movement, four laser guns are brandished at once, red spots dotting Hyejoo’s forehead. She sighs wearily, producing an envelope.

 

(A/N: The “Laser Rule” was written in 2501 to ensure that all handguns were mounted with lasers. This rule came to fruition after a PBI agent managed to miss all thirty point blank shots aimed at an escaping criminal.)

 

“Here’s a letter I wrote confessing to all the crimes I have ever committed.” 

 

Chaewon, ever the bold one, is the one that speaks. “Stop playing stupid games. What the hell do you want?” 

 

Hyejoo cocks her head to one side. 

 

“To confess to the crimes I’ve committed, and let the PBI know that I’m not  _ the _ Big Bad you’re looking for.”

 

“Shut up! I could blow your brains out. Tell the PBI it was in self-defence, and I’ll get called a hero. Tell me why I shouldn’t do that right now,” Sooyoung threatens. Even when her voice shakes, it’s intimidating enough for Jiwoo to look back at her worriedly. Sooyoung sounds slightly unhinged, and perhaps rightfully so. Her feet dig into the reddish earth, and she’s standing like the littlest of things could cause her knees to buckle.

 

“Stop!” Heejin, burdened by knowledge and frankly, frustrated by how poorly Hyejoo is handling the situation, interrupts. “We need your help, Detectives. Hyejoo wants to destroy The Big Bad.”

 

“She wants to destroy her own syndicate? Tell us a lie we could actually believe.” 

 

“The Big Bad isn’t a syndicate,” Hyunjin supplies. 

 

“It’s a microchip. In my head. Or was in my head. Now it’s in someone else’s. And I need you to take it out of hers. Destroy it. You can arrest me once we capture her.”

 

“Why should we believe you?”

 

Hyejoo reaches behind her, the motion causing the detectives to simultaneously step forward, guns still aimed and loaded. But her hands moves not towards her own gun, but her hair. She brushes it in a bunch to one side, and shifts to expose the back of her neck to the entire crew. A scar sits, not so prettily, vertically down the center of nape. 

 

“That doesn’t mean anything to me,” Sooyoung retorts with spite. 

 

“The grey light in my right eye. You haven’t seen it in a long time, have you, Detective? That was The Big Bad, and now it’s gone. Because I am no longer the intergalactic supervillain you are looking for.”

 

Sooyoung narrows her eyes, but it’s hard to contemplate the suggestion seriously when your life’s work is being questioned. Nostrils flaring, breathing heavy, gaze hardening, Sooyoung pulls back the trigger on her gun ever so slightly.

 

And that’s when Jiwoo decides she’s had enough. 

 

The cyborg drops her weapon, putting it back in the holster with one decisive glance at her fellow detectives. “She’s telling the truth. Trust me.”

 

A stare-down ensues. Jiwoo scans the expression on Sooyoung’s face, surprised to realise that her resolve is actually crumbling. Sooyoung’s never been too good at compartmentalising-- a bit too emotional, too fragile, whenever it came to anything related to Jungeun. And she’s standing on the same dirt where she lost her life, next to her sister, listening to the person she died trying to arrest come forward and say she’s no longer the supervillain they were looking for. 

 

How very complicated.

 

Jiwoo turns back, satisfied that even Sooyoung has lowered her gun albeit with some hesitance. 

 

“We believe you. But you’re going to have to tell us why you lured all of us here with Jeon Heejin. What’s your plan? Why not turn yourself in at PBI HQ? Why here?”

 

Hyejoo sighs, about to do a very vivid retelling of her master plan.

 

And that’s when a very loud humming interrupts them. It’s a recognisable sound to most of them present, even Hyejoo.

 

The telltale sign of a clunky, PBI-owned ship. 

 

* * *

_ When she reaches the wreckage, it’s a mess of debris, smoke and fire. She ignores the jeep, speeding past it on her motorcycle. Her eyes sting, and she doubts it’s from the wind or the smoke.  _

 

_ Her pod sits destroyed a distance away. The ruins become clearer as she gets closer. _

 

_ “Yeojin,” she calls, and even she knows she has never sounded this broken before. “Yeojin, please…” _

 

_ She holds the lifeless girl in her arms, devastated that the only thing that brought her happiness was gone.  _

 

_ The voice in her head disappears alongside the light in her life. The grey in her eye dims back to black. _

 

_ Yeojin’s gone, but so is The Big Bad. _

 

* * *

All heads turn, confused, as the ship swiftly and smoothly descends a few feet away from them much like the pirate ship did.

 

Jung Jinsoul emerges from there, frantic and unknowing.

 

“Why are you here?!” Sooyoung agitatedly asks. Jinsoul bows back to the rest of the detectives who are curtly greeting her before taking her place beside Sooyoung.

 

“I’ll explain later!” Jinsoul whispers back, aware that now all eyes are on her. “Um, go on, you looked like you were saying something important.”

 

Hyejoo’s mouth stays agape for a millisecond too long. Jiwoo narrows her eyes, trying to search for any known history between the polar opposites that are Son Hyejoo and Jung Jinsoul. Her database comes up empty-handed.

 

“So my original plan was to disguise this whole thing as a trap for The Big Bad. My first step was to capture Jeon Heejin, and lure you, Detective, to The Penthouse. There, with Hyunjin, Heejin and you in position, I would be able to lure Kim Lip out of hiding. Then, with her emotional connection to you three I would be able to get her to override the microchip. But plans changed and we’re here now at a destination that’s probably more ideal than the one that I thought up, really.”

 

“Wait, wait, wait. You lost me. Who the hell is Kim Lip?” They are all confused. Heejin verbalises their exact thoughts. 

 

“The new Big Bad.”

 

“And why the  _ hell _ would we have an emotional connection to her?” Hyunjin asks aggressively.

 

Sooyoung pulls her gun out from her holster again. There’s a pause as Hyejoo looks far away into the distance. You’d half-expect the supervillain to appear out of nowhere to announce her arrival, but that doesn’t happen.

 

Yet.

 

Hyejoo checks the pocket watch she keeps in her jacket. "Any moment now..."

 

A cinematic pause and an anticlimactic ‘whoosh’ of a portal opening later...

 

“You called?” A foreign voice rings out. 

 

Foreign, but only because none of them have heard it in six years. A brunette, the owner of the voice, and a purple-haired girl step out of the portal. Said portal disappears. Hyejoo, from the corner of everyone’s eye, loads her gun. 

 

A silent shot is fired, and then another. The brunette and her partner drop to the ground, shaking from the electric pulses whatever Hyejoo has just attached to her are sending. It’s an electric shock within a shock within a shock. Sooyoung faints. Vivi faints. Chaewon yells. Heejin yells. Hyunjin has a hand over her mouth. Hyejoo stalks over to the now helpless body of The Big Bad, greeting her with a curt nod.

 

“Kim Lip.”

 

Wheezing from the effort of trying to raise her gun, Kim Lip huffs, still spasming. “Son of a bitch.”

 

“Son Hyejoo, actually.”

 

Kim Lip--  _ Jungeun,  _ as everyone else remembers her as-- scrunches her nose at her, obviously wanting to say something snarky back. What happens instead is her eyes fluttering close, her body finally giving in to the pain.

 

* * *

_ There’s a loud humming that interrupts the tranquility amongst the chaos.  _

 

_ A stranger in a spaceship appears, out of the blue. But she definitely knows the two detectives in the jeep, if her stunned paralysis was any indication. She’s panicking and obviously terrified. _

 

_ When Hyejoo looks back again, the stranger is trying to resuscitate one of the bodies she’d pulled out from the wreckage. She’s offbeat and frantic with her CPR. The other body sits against the jeep-- breathing, but barely. _

 

_ As Hyejoo watches it all from afar, sitting with her head against the pod and Yeojin’s head in her lap, she doesn’t think she would move any time soon. But there’s an opportunity that arises before her that she simply cannot resist. Laying Yeojin down carefully, she shakily gets to her feet and trudges toward the stranger. _

 

_ She gets found out when she’s within earshot. A gun is pulled on her, fast. She should have seen this coming-- the unnamed blonde woman was likely to be a detective, and the ones in the jeep were logically the colleagues she’d come to retrieve.  _

 

_ “Your friend’s dying. I can save her.” _

 

_ “You’re Son Hyejoo. I should be arresting you right now.” _

 

_ “Yes, but that one over there is going to kick the bucket soon, unless you listen to me.” _

 

_ Unconvinced but wavering at the prospect of being able to save her friend’s life, the woman lowers her gun, asking: “What do you want?” _

 

_ “Freedom.” _

 

_ “No way.” _

 

_ “Then she dies.” _

 

_ It takes less than a minute for the detective to properly consider the offer. When blood starts to come out the unconscious detective’s ears, that’s when she relents. _

 

_ She’s choking up when she replies. “Fine. What do I have to do?” _

 

_ “There’s a microchip implanted in the back of my head. It’ll confer her self-healing properties.” _

 

_ “But?” Hyejoo looks at her, confused at the question. “There’s always a ‘but’ with these things.” _

 

_ “But that’s the consciousness of a supervillain you’re transplanting into her. She’ll become the next Big Bad.” _

 

_ That’s obviously not the answer the woman wanted to hear. Not by a long shot. But Hyejoo’s desperate, since the only way to get rid of the microchip is to implant it in someone else. It’s a win-win situation, and she’ll use that to her advantage as best she can. _

 

_ “She probably only has a few minutes left.” _

 

_ “If I don’t do that, she... dies. And if I do, she’s next in line to become an intergalactic supervillain.” _

 

_ “Correct.” _

 

_ Her eyes may be watery from tears, but the determination shines through regardless when she replies: “Walk me through it.” _

 

* * *

“Why am I here… Why am I here?” 

 

“Chaewon,” Vivi warns from across the room. She’s seated, albeit a little on edge. Still, that’s a far cry from Chaewon who’s been pacing around the room  for god knows how long already.

 

“You do realise how fucked up of a situation this is, right?”

 

Vivi rolls her eyes. “I passed out, spilled my guts onto the soil on this unregistered planet, and then passed out again. Trust me when I say I know how fucked up it is.”

 

“She’s back from the dead, Vivi. Back from the  _ dead _ .”

 

“I understood that the first time,” the senior agent complains, rubbing her temple. “God, my head’s killing me.”

 

“You didn’t exactly stick a nice landing both times you passed out,” Heejin supplies from against one of the walls. She’s been quiet watching the whole situation unfold. Fitting, since she probably doesn’t know what’s going on anyways. Her designated translator Hyunjin hasn’t exactly been… responsive.

 

Vivi forces a smile, “You alright there, kid?”

 

Heejin nods, looking between the two people in the room, the ceiling, and lastly the ground. “She’s… Kim Jungeun. Agent Kim Jungeun, right?”

 

“Yeah. You knew her?” Chaewon asks casually, definitely not expecting a hesitant nod in reply.

 

The conversation ends when Haseul bursts in through the door. The three observers peel themselves off the wall, anxiously watching as Haseul shuts the door behind her. In the room she just emerged from, the trio manage to catch a glimpse of the lifeless body of the purple-haired girl laid out on a stretcher. 

 

The owner of a pirate ship, a gas bar and a bar. That, Haseul is. 

 

A mechanic, and an expert in electronics? That, Haseul also is.

 

“She’s not human, at all. Robot through and through. It seems that she’s sentient, though. I have a feeling she’s an AI.”

 

“Walking AI?” Chaewon questions in disbelief. “How did Jung-- Kim Lip even get her hands on her? And how has she not… gone rogue?”

 

(A/N: “Gone rogue” is a phrase used to describe artificial intelligence that has grown far too smart to be put on a leash and used at Man’s disposal. They grow to be independent of their creators once they are put in an engineless device that can pilot itself-- say, for example, the body of a robot. Most AIs that go rogue process how the existence of life is devoid of any meaning and self-destruct within seconds of achieving sentience.)

 

“Very advanced technology that is suppressing any of her self-destructive thoughts. That, or she might have been imported from somewhere else.”

 

A loud bang causes all their heads to turn suddenly.

 

“A car,” the purple-haired girl bursts through the door. “My name is Yerim and I was a car. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find my owner.”

 

* * *

“Just to be sure, this is my Jungeun, right? My sister, not some sick joke of a doppelgänger…”

 

Hyejoo clicks the last of the restraints into place. Jungeun-- _ Kim Lip _ , or whoever this is-- lies motionless on the reclined chair like a fish on a cutting board, wrists and ankles bound to the contraption. Her head lolls to the side, and Sooyoung tries her hardest not to gasp again at how her eyebrows furrow the same way Jungeun’s did, how she doesn’t look at peace even in a forced slumber, much like how Jungeun never seemed to nap with ease. 

 

“Yes, this is your Jungeun,” Jinsoul answers Hyunjin, knowing Hyejoo wouldn’t. She meets Sooyoung’s eyes. She notices how Sooyoung hasn’t stopped trembling. “ _ Our _ Jungeun. With the consciousness of The Big Bad implanted into her head.” 

 

The air in the room is thick with tension, exacerbated by the screeching of metal against metal when Hyejoo pulls a rusty lamp out from the wall and over Jungeun. 

 

Jinsoul feels very much like an outsider in this group when she is far from one. She scans them one by one.

 

Hyejoo. Kim Lip’s predecessor. The one who gathered the most important people in Jungeun’s life before crime to this very spot. The most knowledgeable of them all regarding The Big Bad.

 

Hyunjin. Jungeun’s sister.

 

Sooyoung. Jungeun’s… whatever relationship they were teetering on that didn’t constitute as cheating on Sooyoung’s side and homewrecking on Jungeun’s end. 

 

Jiwoo. Well, a cyborg is always handy to have around, she reckons. Besides, Sooyoung looks like she just might collapse if not for Jiwoo’s strong grip on her hip holding her in place. Jinsoul doesn’t miss the way Sooyoung’s hand constantly searches for something to hold on to, be it Jiwoo’s forearm, hand, the hem of her shirt, anything. 

 

And then there was her. The unforgiving presence who stood between Jungeun, Sooyoung and their happily ever after. Jungeun’s superior, former friend, archnemesis and saviour, all at once. An outsider, but then again, not really. 

 

She knows why she’s here. She was the one who put the microchip in Jungeun’s head after all. 

 

“Why are you here?” Hyejoo asks, suddenly pointing the lamp at her and shining it in her face. “I didn’t plan for you to be here, actually.”

 

“What, me?” Jinsoul asks in genuine confusion, shielding her eyes from the light. It’s rather bright. “I found the secret code you left for me in your ship.”

 

“I didn’t leave you any secret codes.”

 

A grating voice speaks from beneath them. “She didn’t, I did.”

 

At the new voice, Hyejoo quickly points the light towards the supervillain. Jungeun struggles to open her eyes under the unforgiving white light. She hisses a little, definitely disoriented. Unable to bear the sight of her own sister suffering, Hyunjin hurriedly reaches to switch it off.

 

“Thanks,” Jungeun remarks, blinking away the spots in her eyes and taking a good look at the steely Hyunjin. “You’ve grown.”

 

Hyunjin’s only reply comes as tears in her eyes.

 

“You… Wha… Why?” Jinsoul draws everyone’s attention back to the pressing question at hand. 

 

“So I can see the look on your face when I finally steal  _ her _ from under your nose,” Jungeun says easily. The vengeance in her eyes betrays her, though, and Jinsoul has to blink hard, taking an apprehensive step back. She then turns, regarding Sooyoung with a softer, yet similarly unnerving expression, “Hey, sexy.”

 

Sooyoung also takes a few steps back. Shock, confusion, arousal, more confusion at her own arousal, disgust, surprise-- she feels all those emotions at once. Jungeun amplifies it all with a wink. 

 

“You’re… you’re supposed to be dead. They let me believe you were dead.”

 

Jungeun raises her eyebrows, lets them dance around as she registers the comment, before they finally rest atop her narrowed eyes. She smirks, turning to look at Jinsoul. “ _Uh oh_ ,” she sing-songs, “Someone here is a _big fat_ _liar_.”

 

The betrayal etched in Sooyoung’s face is painfully distressing. 

 

“You knew?” she asks, hoping with every fibre of her being that Jinsoul’s answer to that is a resounding ‘no’.

 

But of course, it isn’t.

 

“Tell me you didn’t know, Jinsoul.”

 

Jinsoul has the explanation all thought up, but it stays caught in her throat. She did know, yes. Would it matter to Sooyoung that she had her reasons for keeping it from her? Probably not. 

 

“I… I’m sorry.”

 

Marred by shock, Jiwoo’s reflexes aren’t fast enough. Sooyoung breaks out of the restraints that are the cyborg’s arms, and haphazardly throws a punch Jinsoul’s way. 

 

Jinsoul lets her. There’s a sickening crack when bone hits bone. 

 

In the background, Jungeun cackles maniacally.

 

Hyunjin takes the momentary distraction to steal Hyejoo’s gun from her holster. She loads it expertly, and aims it right at Jungeun’s head.

 

Jungeun’s laughing trails off. She watches the rapid rise and fall of Hyunjin’s chest, smiling a little to herself.

 

“Oh, sister. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

 

With that, Jungeun’s right hand shoots upwards, breaking free of the steel cuffs that were previously holding her down. Hyunjin barely has time to notice the way her sister’s forearm has turned into some kind of bionic arm; how metal armour has taken its place where once used to be skin. Jungeun holds the barrel of the gun firmly, pushing it in Hyejoo’s direction. Her left hand, now free as well, is placed upon Hyunjin’s own. She pushes the trigger for her. 

 

Hyejoo screams, falling to the ground, convulsing. “How… did you…”

 

“Software updates,” Jungeun replies with a wink. 

 

Hyunjin stares in horror, watching everything unfold in a slow-motion-like quality.

 

“Jungeun says sorry,” Jungeun-- no,  _ this _ is Kim Lip-- wrestles the electric gun out of Hyunjin’s grip entirely. 

 

Never in a million years would Hyunjin have expected to be at the wrong side of a gun wielded by her own sister. 

 

But never in a million years did she think she would see her again.

 

With that thought, Hyunjin goes down as well, her world dissolving into blue sparks, and then black.

 

While Jinsoul writhes in pain on the floor, Jiwoo takes the chance to handcuff Sooyoung. 

 

(A/N: Handcuffs, like badges, are almost like souvenirs to the policemen and women who carry them. Almost decorative and serving no purpose, handcuffs have been the subject of a century-long debate to abolish them for good. As it stands, handcuffs have proven useful to law enforcers typically in the bedroom and nowhere else. Until now.) 

 

“Let me go, Jiwoo!”

 

Jiwoo’s response is to tighten the grip on her wrists. In a second, she has Sooyoung’s left hand bound to a pipe running along the room. 

 

“ _ JIWOO! _ ”

 

Sooyoung’s cries prove to be the least important thing happening in the room. There’s a showdown going on right now-- metal foot against bionic arm, blue eye against a red, flashing one. 

 

“Kim Jiwoo, Junkyard #3911. Nice to meet you.” The hospitality in Jungeun’s voice is greatly contrasted by the way she cocks the electric gun. 

 

Jiwoo eyes the weapon cautiously even though it’s pointed at the ground. Hyejoo and Hyunjin are both unconscious behind Jungeun. The cyborg steps forward in an attempt to shield both Jinsoul and Sooyoung, knowing it might be futile anyway. “Kim Jungeun, alias Kim Lip, Junkyard #1. I didn’t know they made cyborgs there.”

 

“Oh, no cyborgs there. Just…  _ upgraded _ humans,” Jungeun says that matter-of-factly, raising her outstretched palm in Jiwoo’s direction. A circular disc glows, charging. Jiwoo knows that it’ll go off in a matter of milliseconds-- she has them on her palms too. 

 

(A/N: Early cyborg inventors were inspired heavily by classic cinema, namely a blockbuster from 2008 titled “Iron Man”.) 

 

The charge fires just as Jiwoo’s metal foot makes contact with the ground. With a swivel of her heel, she summons up a shield-- invisible to the human eye-- that successfully fends off the blast. 

 

Jungeun doesn’t lose the smile on her face, as if she’d been expecting it to happen all along. “Good one,” she comments, before continuing her offensive. She lunges, right fist turning from flesh to silver right under Jiwoo’s nose. The cyborg deftly dodges, and lands her own punch against Jungeun’s jaw. 

 

The red in her left eye flickers momentarily as she reels backwards. 

 

Jinsoul capitalises on that moment of stupor, brandishing her laser gun and shooting in Jungeun’s direction. Her vision is still blurry from when Sooyoung had hit her in the eye, but one of her blind shots still manages to strike Jungeun in the knee.

 

Three pairs of eyes watch in horror as the skin on her right leg fizzles away, exposing the muscle and bone underneath. Jungeun cries in pain, but her screams soon turn into growls. The vanished skin starts to reappear, slowly adding itself onto the wound. Jungeun is healing,  _ fast _ . 

 

“She wasn’t kidding when she said she was an upgraded human!” Jinsoul yells, terrified. She tries to shoot again, but her shots fail to hit their target. One shot barely grazes Jungeun on the arm, and they watch that bloody wound heal itself within mere seconds. She runs out of charge soon enough.

 

Jiwoo, while mentally calculating her odds against the supervillain, swiftly bends to sweep her feet, causing Jungeun to fall on her back with a loud thud. 

 

(Her odds are not good.)

 

Jungeun winces, but easily shoots the two incapacitated humans with the gun in her left hand. As the two fall unconscious like the Hyunjin and Hyejoo had before them, she throws the gun away. Before she can push herself back up though, a metal foot clanks heavily on her chest, pushing her down and into the concrete. 

 

She wheezes with effort trying to shove the foot off of her with two hands. Jiwoo furrows her eyebrows, scanning the body beneath her only to find that she’s almost 99% flesh and bone. She doesn’t want to exert any more force that it could kill or crush her very human organs, but Jungeun makes it difficult to achieve that. Jiwoo points the weapon on her palm in her face, and Jungeun eventually stops struggling.

 

“What do you want? Why are you even here?”

 

Jungeun narrows her eyes, snarling. “Hye… She… asked me to… come... here.”

 

“Did you know we were going to be here?”

 

“I guessed. She wasn’t exactly a fan of… The Big Bad. The kidnapping stunt she pulled with Jeon Heejin… dead… giveaway.”

 

“So why are you here, if you knew you were going to be attacked?”

 

“I…” The red flashes in Jungeun’s left eye, flickering dark for a few seconds. Her expression turns to one of genuine confusion, as if she was truly considering her reasons for being on E12 in the first place. Her gaze flits to a figure in the corner. 

 

Sooyoung. 

 

“I don’t… know.”

 

The red comes back on.

 

“It’s Sooyoung.”

 

Jungeun’s red eye swirls a bright scarlet before dimming to a deep crimson, brown intermittently peeking through. 

 

( _ “There, with Hyunjin, Heejin and you in position, I would be able to lure Kim Lip out of hiding. Then, with her emotional connection to you three I would be able to get her to override the microchip...” _ )

 

It all made sense to Jiwoo now, what Hyejoo was trying to do.

 

“Sooyoung is why you’re here. You knew she’d be here, chasing down Hyejoo. You knew and you came, because you wanted to see her.” Jiwoo’s expression softens in realisation. Her hardened eyes stare back into Jiwoo’s own, the red going on, off, on, off... 

 

“You still love her.”

 

The red flickers.

 

“The real Jungeun is still in there, isn’t she? You’re overridden by The Big Bad but you’re still in there!”

 

And then it goes out. 

 

“You’re in there! This is Jungeun, right? Kim Jungeun. Born the tenth of February 2494. Sister to Kim Hyunjin. Graduating class of 2515, PBI’s finest. Presumed dead 6 years ago and never found again.” Jiwoo searches her eyes for any signs of the ‘real’ Jungeun. All she finds is confusion and terror. 

 

“That’s you. Ha Sooyoung’s partner. Love of her life. Soulmate. Whatever you call it. That’s all you, isn’t it?”

 

Jungeun, seemingly in a panic, hurriedly switches her gaze between the cyborg atop her and the agent unconscious against the wall. 

 

“Soo… young…”  She wheezes, hand inching towards and reaching for the woman.

 

Jiwoo immediately releases her foot. The supervillain heaves hard for a second.

 

And in that second, a million scenarios run through Jiwoo’s head. The calculations come out almost instantly. 

 

She absolutely should  _ not _ have done that. 

 

The red flashes back on with a vengeance.

 

Jungeun tangles her legs around Jiwoo’s like a lasso, pulling them sideways and causing her to fall face first. Jiwoo shrieks, nose burning with pain. Her vision blurs and erupts into a myriad of colours-- her digital eye has been compromised.

 

“Yerim!” The supervillain calls. Her voice reverberates around the compound, but she gets no response.

 

Some blood drips onto the concrete. Jiwoo’s never bled before. She tries to crawl, but feels a foot on her back pushing her back into the concrete. A whimper barely makes it past her lips.

 

With the tables turned, Jungeun doesn’t spare Jiwoo the way she did her. She stomps,  _ hard _ . 

 

Jiwoo screams, vision going white hot from the excruciating pain. Her metal lungs dent and squeeze around her heart. Fractures now line her spine where Jungeun’s foot made contact. Something cracks; it’s probably her ribs. She can’t breathe properly.

 

“YERIM!” Jungeun calls again. 

 

This time, Jiwoo can’t hear it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the two month long hiatus between the chapters... i had a really bad writer's block and had to rely (too much) on divine intervention to get through this one. but i'm satisfied with how this turned out, if i do say so myself. i know it's confusing and complicated and absolute chaos but well, my cc and twt are always open for all three of you ibsy readers (you know who you are... double d and the restless spirit of jungeun) to yell at, so uh... hit me up

**Author's Note:**

> (bonus points to whoever can guess which fandom this was originally meant for and which characters were meant to be who)
> 
> title comes from billie holiday's i'll be seeing you, which was the song they used to send off opportunity (y'know, the mars rover). give it a listen, and cry with me.
> 
> talk to me!  
> twt: @2jinverse


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